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ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF THE WORLDS HISTORY 



THE CHILD'S 

Story ^Greatest Century 



A MARVELOUS RECORD OF THE WORLD'S PROGRESS 

T he Wonderful Inventions in Steam and Electricity which 
have Changed all Methods of Manufacture and Modes of Life 
and Travel— The Great Discoveries of Science which have 
Revolutionized the World— The Exploration and Develop, 
ment of New Lands and Territory— The Increase in Popu^ 
lation and Wealth— Great Wars of Europe and America 
with their Napoleon, Nelson, Wellington, Grant, Lee, Farragut, 
and Other Heroes of Land and Sea— Told in Easy Language 
and Charming Way— All Stranger than Fiction and far more 
Fascinating, 



By CHARLES MORRIS, LL.D. 

Author of "The Greater Republic," "Famous Hen and Great Events of the 19th Century. 
"The Child's History of the United States," etc., etc. 



Embellished with Lithograph Color Plates and Thirty-^two 

Full Page Haif=Tone Engravings Illustrating 

the Greatest Events of the Century 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Ctvita Received 

OCT. It 1901 

COPVRIQHT ENTRY 

CLASS '^XXa No, 

COPY a. 



.^■^^.^•§g,g,g;g;gf;g;gig;^-^ 



^P^:#.-§^.-§i§:§^^.-§:-§S ^^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1901, bv 

AV. E. SCULJL,, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



lOUtrs R£l»Kl-i 



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A Few Words with My Young Friends 




F any of my young friends are newspaper readers, 
they must have seen a great deal said in the 
beginning of the year 1900 about the Nineteenth 
Century. Thus there was quite a dispute about 
when it began and when it ended. Some said it 
began with the year 1800 and ended with the year 1899. 
Others said it began January i, 1801, and ended at the close 
of December, 1 900. Nearly everybody thought the last dates 
to be the right ones, for they said that the first century began 
on the first day of the year i, the second century on the first 
day of the year 10 1, and all other centuries in the same way, 
till the nineteenth century, which began with the year 1801. 

I do not think we need trouble ourselves much about 
this. I am not writing this book to tell when the nineteenth 
century be an and ended, but what it was like and what great 
things took place in it. There have been many 
important centuries since the world began, but century 
most men say that the nineteenth century was 
the most important of them all. It did more for man and 
for civilization than any two centuries that had gone before it. 
No one can know what history means, or what the 
progress of the world has been, unless he knows a great deal 
about this wonderful century. It has been the century of 
invention. When it began men did the most of their work 
with their hands ; now they do the most of it with machines. 
It has been the century of science. When it began men knew 
very little about the great forces and forms of the universe ; 



A FEW WORDS WITH MY YOUNG FRIENDS 

now they know a great deal about electricity and light and 
heat and a hundred other things. It has been the century of 
progress in human liberty. The slaves of a hundred years 
ago are free men to-day, and the people of the nations have 
far more liberty than they had in the past ages. 

These are some of the things we owe to the nineteenth 
century. They are not the whole of them. It has been a 
century crowded with marvels, full of great events and won- 
derful discoveries. It has had its triumphs of war and its 
greater triumphs of peace ; its great warriors and its greater 
statesmen ; its great doers and its greater thinkers. The past 
centuries were centuries of action more than of thought ; this 
has been a century alike of thought and of action. Man's 
hands have been busy, but his brain has been busier, and the 
triumphs of the nineteenth century are the triumphs of the mind. 

I hope the readers of this little book understand what I 
have just said. If any part of it is not clear to them they 
must read on to the end to learn what it all means. This 
book is the story of the lives and acts of the people now liv- 
ing on the earth and of their fathers and grand- 
ManJeis*^** fathers. It should be of interest to all of us 
on that account. The story of the nineteenth 
century is a wonderful one in every way. There is nothing 
else so wonderful in the history of the world. None of the 
tales of adventure you may have read are of more interest 
than the facts of this great century, and I am sure you will 
agree with me when you have read this book through. 

That is all I have to say here. One cannot say every- 
thing in a preface. And none of you, when you are invited 
to a good dinner, care much to be told what is on the table. 
You would rather find out for yourselves. So with these few 
words I throw open the doors of the dining hall, and let you in 
to the feast of good things which has been prepared for you. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



A FEW WORDS WITH OUR YOUNG READERS 



CHAPTER I 
A Railroad Ride Through the Century 

All Aboard ! — From 1800 to 1900 — A Look Around in 1800 — What the World 
Looked Like — How People Lived — The Strange World of our Grand- 
fathers — The Growth of the World During the Century 17 

CHAPTER II 

The United States from a Car Window 

America from 1600 to 1800 — How We Bought Louisiana — Lewis and Clark 
Go West — The War of 181 2 — National Progress — Slavery and War — 
The Wealth of Alaska 25 

CHAPTER III 

A Bird's Eye View of the Old World 

Europe in the Nineteenth Century — The Wars of Napoleon — The Blessings 
of Peace — Travel in Africa — England and Russia in Asia — Civilization 
in Japan — The Philippine Islands — The March of Progress 33 

CHAPTER IV 
Napoleon, the Great Conqueror 

What Makes Men Great — Napoleon's Early Days — Napoleon Crosses the 
Alps — Napoleon Crowned Emperor — The Grand Army in Russia — 
Napoleon in Exile — The Return from Elba — The Battle of Waterloo . . 40 

CHAPTER V 
Nelson, the Sailor, and Wellington, the Soldier 

The British Islands — Horatio Nelson — The Battle of the Nile — Victory and 
Death at Trafalgar — Wellington in Spain and Portugal — The Hundred 
Days — Waterloo and the Fall of Napoleon 49 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VI ''^'^^ 

The Champion of Right and the Tribune of the 

People 

The Victories of Peace — Gladstone's First Great Speech — Naples and Bul- 
garia — Gladstone and Disraeli — Home Rule in Ireland — Gladstone as 
Prime Minister — John Bright, the People's Tribune 57 

CHAPTER VII 

Garibaldi, the Hero of Italy 

The Peninsula of Italy — The Italian Patriots-^Garibaldi's Wanderings — He 
Fights for Rome — Visits the United States — The War with the Austrians 
— Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy — Rome and Defeat — Rome and 
Naples 65 

CHAPTER VIII 

Russia, the Colossus of the East 

The Extent of Russia — Life in Russia — The Colossus of the East — The 
Country of the Turks — Wars of Russia and Turkey — Sebastopol Taken 
The Bulgarian Horror — The Nations Hungry for China 73 

CHAPTER IX 

Louis Napoleon and His Empire 

Napoleon the Eittle — France After Waterloo — Louis Philippe — The Revolt of 
1 848 — Louis Napoleon in France — The New Emperor — Soldiers Sent to 
Rome — The War with Austria — The French in Mexico 79 

CHAPTER X 

England and Her Colonies 

An English Boast— The Colony of Canada — Progress of Australia— India 
Conquered— The Terrible Retreat from Cabul— The Indian Mutiny — • 
Partition of Africa — The Struggle in Egypt • 88 

CHAPTER XI 

How Bismarck Made an Empire 

King William and Count Bismarck — Prussia Grows Powerful — Louis Napo- 
leon's Blunders—" On to Berlin "—The Victories of the Germans- 
Surrender of Metz and Paris— The Crowning of William 95 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xi 

CHAPTER XII J'AOB 

Bolivar, the Liberator, and Touissant, the Brave 

Spain and Her Colonies — Simon Bolivar — An Assassin Foiled — Crossing the 
Andes — Bolivar's Victories — The Reward of the Liberator — The Out- 
break in Haj'ti — A Negro Conqueror and Ruler — Treachery of Napoleon . 105 

CHAPTER XIII 

The Development of the United States 

Conditions in 1800 — Settling a Great Territory — Wars with England and 
Mexico — The City of Mexico — The Triumphs of Peace — Growth of Trade 
and Industry — Steamboats and Railroads — The Rule of the People . . 112 

CHAPTER XIV 

The Indians and the Negroes 

A New Variety of People — Black and Red Men — The Indians Fight for Their 
Homes — Beyond the Mississippi — Present State of the Indians — The 
Blacks in America — The Institution of Slavery — The Abolitionists . . 120 

CHAPTER XV 

Abraham Lincoln and the Freedom of the Slave 

The Life of a Poor Boy — From Rail-splitting to Congress — The Debate with 
Douglas — The Question of Slavery — Lincoln is Made President — The 
Slaves Set Free — An Assassin's Cruel Deed 127 

CHAPTER XVI 

The Great Civil War in America 

The North and South in Arms — Vicksburg and Gettysburg — Grant Com- 
mander-in-Chief^Sherman's March to Atlanta — Crossing Georgia — The 
Siege of Petersburg — Thomas at Nashville — Lee's Retreat and Surrender 133 

CHAPTER XVII 

The Battle of the Ironclads and the Birth of the 

New Navy 

Two Strange Vessels — The Monitor and the Merriniac — Farragut at New 
Orleans and Mobile — The Sinking of the Albemarle — The Kearsarge 
and the Aladaf7ia — Steelclad Fighters — The World's New Navies . . . 139 



xii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XVIII p^°« 

How Japan and China Woke Out of Their Long Sleep 

The Realm of Yellow Faces — The Opening of Japan — The Mikado m Power 
The Pride of China — Opening of the Ports — The Capture of Pekin — 
The War with Japan — The Question of Partition — The Boxers' War . 145 

CHAPTER XIX 

South Africa and the Boer War 

The Dark Continent — Exploration and Partition — The Boers and the Eng- 
lish — Troubles of the Transvaal — Diamonds and Gold — A Declaration 
of War — How the Boers Fought — Fate of the Boer Republic 153 

CHAATER XX 

Livingstone and Stanley, the Great African 

Travelers 

Travel in Africa — Mungo Park and James Bruce — Livingstone, the Mission- 
ary — Lost to Sight — Stanley to the Rescue — Stanley's Great Journey 
Down the Congo — Emin Pasha and His Peril 160 

CHAPTER XXI 

Discoveries in the Sea of Ice 

The Northwest Passage and the Pole — Explorers of the Icy Seas — Sir John 
Franklin and His Loss — Greeley and His Misfortunes — Nansen and His 
Adventures — Peary in Greenland — His Break for the Pole 168 

CHAPTER XXII 

The Treasures of the Hills 

The Wealth of the Rocks — The California Gold Placers — Australia and South 
Africa — The Gold of Alaska — The Bonanza Silver Mines — The Diamonds 
of Africa — Vast Coal Deposits — Coal Oil Discoveries — Copper Mines . . 175 

CHAPTER XXIII 

The Marvels of Machinery and the Great Inventors 

Old and New Work in the Fields— The Tools of Our Grandfathers— The Era 
of Invention — Wonderful Progress in Machinery — Fulton and the Steam- 
boat — Howe and the Sewing Machine — Goodyear and Rubber .... 181 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xiii 

CHAPTER XXIV ^agr 

Morse and Edison, and the Marvels o'f Electricity 

The Source of the Lightning — From Franklin to Morse — The Discovery of 
the Telegraph — Field and the Ocean Cable — Bell and the Telephone — 
The Electric Eight — Edison and His Discoveries 1 88 

CHAPTER XXV 

The Wonders of Science 

Science and Invention — What Makes Heat — Eight and Its Wonders — The 
Marvelous X-Ray — The Sun and the Stars — Geology and its Marvels — 
Plants and Animals — Man , Ancient and Modern — The Study of the Mind . 1 96 

CHAPTER XXVI 
The Man Behind the Machine 

Man the Worker — Old and New Systems of Industry — The Trades Union and 
the Strike — Combination of Labor and Capital — Profit Sharing and 
Co-operation — Socialism — The Status of the Laborer 203 

CHAPTER XXVII 

The Growth of Commerce and Industry 

Commerce in 1800 — Activity in England — Growth of Commerce in America 
and Germany — Industry in England, France and Germany — Activity of 
American Industry — Vast Productive Power — New Markets ..... 211 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

The World of our Own Time 

Contrast of 1800 with 1900 — Present Condition of the World — Modern Art 
Industry and Organization — Progress of Education — The Great Writers 
of the Century — Libraries and Art Galleries — Charity and Benevolence . 219 




THE THOUGHTFUL BOY WHO INVENTED THE STEAM ENGINE 

fames Watt the inventor of the first successful steam engine died in i8ig. His discovery made possible the 

railroads, steamships and our most powerful machinery. The wonderful 19th Century owes more, 

perhaps, to this thoughtful boy than to any other inventor. 




CHAPTER I 

A Railroad Ride through the Century 

ILL ABOARD!" Crowd in, boys and girls, all 
of you. Bring your field glasses and cameras, 
for there is much to be seen and many pictures 
which you will like to take. And don't forget 
your lunch boxes, lest you should grow hungry 
on the road. "All aboard ! Go ahead !" 

It is a strange journey we are going to take. Our route 
lies not through space, but through time. Not over land and 
water, but backward over the years. Not to where your 
friends live in some distant city or state, but to where your 
grandfathers lived in a distant time. We are 
going back at lightning speed for a hundred ^ "" o^d 
years ; then we will come on by accommoda- 
tion train to the present time, stopping at all the important 
stations for a long look around. But no one must leave the 
train until the engine comes puffing in to the station 1900, at 
the end of the journey. 

It is a trip from 1800 to 1900 that I wish you to take, 
and you must try to see all that is worth seeing on the road. 
Here you will go through great cities and there over broad 
plains. Here you will see men working, and there you will 
see men fighting. Here you will see the first locomotive and 
telegraph, and there you will see flags flying and hear the 
trumpet and drum. It is a wonderful journey that lies before 
you, with much to see and much to think about "All 
aboard ! Go ahead ! " 

17 



1 8 A RAILROAD RIDE THROUGH THE CENTURY 

Here we are at station 1800. Jump out briskly. Tell the 
engineer to wait for orders. Before we get on the cars to 
start back I want you to take a good look around this station. 
You all know something about what the year 1900 is like, and 
I want you to know what the world looked like a hundred 
years before, the\world your grandfathers were born into. 

I wish we h^d a map of the world a century old ; it 
would be of use just now. Have you ever seen such a map 
of the United States ? It was a pretty big country then, but it 
has grown from a child into a man since that time. It stopped 
short at the Mississippi River, and all the vast country west 
of this river belonged to Spain. It did not 
states in 1800 ^vcn go as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, for 
Spain owned Florida and a strip of land many 
miles wide along the Gulf. So our forefathers were pretty 
well crowded in, you see. They could not even go down to 
the mouth of the Mississippi without passing through a 
foreign country, for the lower channel of this great river 
belonged to Spain. 

You can see we did not have a very large country then 
alongside of the United States of to-day, spreading out, as it 
does, from ocean to ocean across the continent. But, for all 
that, it was too large for the people in it. Great part of it 
was wild forest, in which only wild beasts and savage Indians 
lived. Most of our people had their homes in the states 
along the Atlantic coast, and all their cities lay close to the 
ocean side. These were not much of cities. We would call 
most of them towns to-day. When w^e look at such great 
cities as New York and Philadelphia, each with much more 
than a million people, and look back at what they were then, 
we seem to see a mere handful of people brought together. 

Would you have liked to live in those cities ? I do 
not think you would. George Washington and Benjamin 



A RAILROAD RIDE THROUGH THE CENTURY 19 

Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and other great men Hved in 
them and thought them very fine, but if they had ever lived 
in the way people live to-day they might have changed their 
minds. Most of the streets at that time were like country 
roads, dusty in summer and muddy in winter. Our smooth 
asphalt and brick pavements had not been thought of then. 
Yet I ought to go back a little farther, for the great age 
of invention began in the eighteenth century. It was then we 
got the steam-engine, which I may call the father of invention, 
for if it had not been for this, much of the machinery we now 
have would be of no use. Some of our machines, such as 
the bicycle and the sewing-machine are worked 
by foot-power ; some of them, like the mowing- , ^ ather of 

•' ^ . . ^ Invention 

and reaping machines, are worked by horse- 
power ; but the large and swift machines are worked by 
steam-power ; so we would be very badly off indeed without 
the steam-engine. Some day the electric-engine may take its 
place, but that day has not come yet. 

Other important machines were invented in the eigh- 
teenth century. These were machines for spinning and 
weaving, the cotton-gin, the first steamboat, and various 
others. But for all that the nineteenth century has been 
much the greatest century for invention the world has ever 
known. 

I mean to tell you in a later chapter something about our 
inventors. I cannot tell you much ; there were too many of 
them ; their inventions run far up into the thousands, though 
you may not think it. And some of the smallest of these took 
as nmch brain work to make as some of the largest. It took 
as much hard thought to invent a machine to make a pin as to 
produce one that would make a great steel engine-shaft. So 
I shall not trouble myself much about big or little in telling 
you about a few of our leading inventors. 



20 A RAILROAD RIDE THROUGH THE CENTURY 

At night the streets were Ht up by oil lamps, and often 
not lit up at all. No one dreamed of gas or electric lights. 
After dark people who had to go out stumbled about the best 
they could, and many of them carried lanterns with tallow 
candles in them. 

It was as bad inside as outside. In most houses there 
was only one room well heated — the kitchen, with its great 
fireplace and blazing logs. The bedrooms in winter were as 
cold as Greenland. Father and mother and the little ones 
went shivering to bed, with only a tallow candle to light 
them, and got up shivering in the morning. 
^ '^T^ Often they had to break the ice in the basin to 

Comforts -^ 

wash their faces. They had very few of the 
comforts we have to-day. Not one floor in a hundred had a 
carpet ; furniture was rude and plain ; pictures and books 
were few and poor ; a hundred little comforts which we have 
were not thought of ; not as much as a match was to be had : 
you can thank your lucky stars that you live to-day instead 
of living then. 

I might say a great deal more about the United States 
in those days, but we must leave that country and look at the 
rest of the world. If any of you had lived a hundred years 
ago, and gone up to a great height in a balloon, and looked 
down on the world spread out below you like a vast map, you 
would have seen life and activity almost everywhere. But 
the maps which men had in those days did not show much 
of this, for very little was then known of the world. 

Civilized people knew a good deal about Europe and 
something about America, but they did not know much about 
the rest of the earth. If you had looked on a map of Africa 
at that time you would have seen a narrow strip around the 
coast with names and places, and a broad region inside quite 
bare of names. Nothing was known about this great interior. 



A RAILROAD RIDE THROUGH THE CENTURY 21 

Since then travelers have gone all over Africa, and the maps 
of it we have to-day are full of names of mountains, lakes, 
rivers, countries and tribes, none of which were known a cen- 
tury ago. It is almost as if we had discovered a new world. 

The map of Asia had not much more to show. A good 
deal was known about India, Persia, and Arabia, but most of 
the continent seemed a broad, blank space. Hardly anything 
was known about China and less about Japan 
— though we know a great deal about those l^^""^ l^^^ 
countries to-day — and the centre and north of 
Asia might as well have been in the moon. The great island 
of Australia was not much better known, and many of the 
islands of the Pacific Ocean had never been seen. 

If you had lived in 1800 and had seen a map of the 
world as it was known then, I am afraid you would have 
stared at it and asked what all those blank places meant, and 
if they were all great deserts. You might have asked who 
lived in Africa, and what countries there were in Asia, and 
what was to be seen in Australia. Nobody could have 
answered you. But to-day you could be told nearly all 
about those countries. This is one of the most wonderful 
things that has been done in the nineteenth century. The 
world has been discovered. For the first time in the history 
of man we are able to make a map of nearly the whole earth. 
I think that is a great deal to say, for it has been the work of 
hundreds of brave travelers, who went among savage peoples 
at the risk of their lives. Many of them never came back 
again. Some were killed and some starved to death ; some 
perished of cold in the Arctic ice and some of heat on the 
equator. When you are thinking of the courage of brave 
soldiers, just think of these men, who were in their way the 
bravest of soldiers, and gave their lives for the good of 
mankind. 



22 A RAILROAD RIDE THROUGH THE CENTURY 

Is that the locomotive I hear whistling ? Some one tell 
the engineer to hold on. We are not ready to start yet. 
There is a good deal still to be seen around the station 1800, 
and we must make our own time-table for this trip. 

Take hold of hands, all of you. Now let us make a 
lightning leap to yonder mountain-top. We are traveling 
through time, you know, and there is no lead in our feet to 
hold us down. Here we are. Look down on the country 
spread before you, the country of 1800, and let me know 
what you see. 

" There are no railroads," some one says. "I cannot 

see an iron rail nor a locomotive anywhere." I fancy you 

cannot. You are away back before the time of railroads and 

locomotives. Look at the lumbering coach, drawn by four 

or more sturdy horses, in the highroad yonder, 

ayemga ^\\\i the driver ci-ackine: his whip proudly in 

Century Ago o r r J 

the air. Now he sounds his horses, and now 
the coach stops before a wayside inn, with a creaking sign at 
the top of a high post, and out leap the half dozen or whole 
dozen of travelers. That inn was the station of the year 1800. 

" But are these all the travelers ? " you ask. 

Yes, indeed ; you see the whole of them. When we 
stand in a modern railway station, with its hundreds of peo- 
ple coming and going, hour by hour, it is hard to believe that 
one or two stage coaches, with a dozen or two of passengers, 
made up the daily travel of a century ago. But such is the 
case. Men who had to go a hundred miles from home made 
their wills and bade good-bye to their families and friends, for 
they were afraid they would never see them again. 

And on that river, where you would now see a dozen 
steamboats and a crowd of puffing tugboats, you can see, from 
our present outlook, only a few vessels moved by sails. The 
steamboat was yet to come. It is true that a little, awkward 



A RAILROAD RIDE THROUGH THE CENTURY 23 

sort of boat was run by steam on the Delaware River before 
1800, but it was not* the kind of craft that people cared to 
travel in, and it soon went out of sight again. 

Look farther and see what else is in view. Far and wide 
stretch before you great forests, broken here and there by set- 
tlements, where farmers are busy at work in their fields. But 
just see the tools they are using ! There goes a row of 
brawny men, with long curved scythes, cutting down the tall 
grass of the fields. And yonder are other men, with short 
curved blades, called sickles, gathering and clipping off the 
wheat stalks as they go. And in the barns are other stal- 
wart fellows, with long linked sticks, which they call flails, 
beatinof the straw to knock out the g^rains of 
wheat or oats. In some places we may see cattle and"pres'en** 
driven over the straw to tread out the grain. 

How different is all this from farm work nowadays ! 
Why, you might go to-day almost from end to end of this 
country and not see a scythe, a wheat sickle, or a flail. Instead, 
you would see horses drawing light machines through the 
fields, which mow down the grass and cut and bind the wheat 
stalks, and plant the seed, and do almost everything else 
needed. And in the barn you would see threshing machines 
which make short work of separating the grain from the straw. 

The nineteenth century has been the century of machines. 
In 1800 nearly all the work of the farm was done by hand. 
In 1900 it was nearly all done by machines, and one man 
could do as much as ten men in the past. And so it was 
with nearly all other kinds of work. Looking from your 
mountain-top you will see none of the great factories, filled with 
rattling machinery, in which the work of the world is now 
done. In 1800 very much of this work was done at home, 
with small, simple tools and machines, and the age of the 
factory was just coming on. The steam-engine had lately 



24 A RAILROAD RIDE THROUGH THE CENTURY 

been invented, but it was like a baby still. Many years would 
be needed for it to grow into a giant. 

Look aeain. What else has our mountain outlook to 
show ? One thing you may see is that people had to work 
very hard in 1800. Hand work is hard work; machine work 
is easy work. Then every one worked till the sun sank out 
of sight, and went to bed tired enough. Most of our people 
to-day hardly know what hard work is. 

There was not much time for amusements. The very 
play was work. In the houses there were spinning and sew- 
ing, and quilting parties ; in the barns there were husking 
frolics ; after a wedding the neighbors came to 
ome lea j^^j^ ^^ ^j^^ house-raising ; men went hunting 

and fishing for food more than for sport. They 
called all this amusement, but it was work as well. They 
could not afford to waste time in play. Yet I have no doubt 
they enjoyed it all. They were hearty, honest folks, who did 
not have many holidays, but got all the fun they could out of 
what they had. 

Ha ! there sounds the whistle again ! Let us skip back 
to the station. If we stop to see more the train may start 
without us. Hurry up, little and big, boys and girls ! Jump 
on the cars! There screams the whistle with its "Toot! 
Too-00-oot ! Toot !" There sounds the engine bell, with its 
'' Clang ! Cling ! Clang ! " " All aboard ! Go ahead ! " 




NAPOLEON CROSSING THE ALPS 






, 



CHAPTER II. 



America from a Car Window. 




WAY we go, rattling down the century. A queer 
sort of railroad ride, isn't it? If you look from 
the car windows you will not see fields and 
woods and towns sweeping past, as we do when 
we travel through the country ; but you will see 
events taking place ; you will see the years pass before you 
like a panorama ; you will see forests falling, and cities grow- 
ing, and men marching and working, and all those things 
going on which make up the history of a century. 

First, there spreads before us the republic of the west, the 
United States. Let us take our pioneer trip through that fresh 
young land. If you look back to the year 1600 you will see 
there only a wilderness, the home of the wild beast and the 
savage Indian. Go on to 1700 and you behold a few settle- 
ments of white men near the ocean shores, but 
all the vast back country is a wilderness still. 
Now onward to 1800. See what a change! 
The settlements have grown and spread until there are more 
than five million white men in the land, and a new nation 
has arisen, a nation without a king or a duke, a lord or a 
baron, and in which the only nobles are the people themselves. 
Leap now to 1900, and we find this young nation to be one 
of the greatest and strongest and richest and noblest on the 
face of the earth. 

Onward we fly down the years, but not to the century's 
end ; we are brought to a halt by a great event in the history 



From 1600 
to 1900 



25 



26 AMERICA I ROM A CAR WINDOW 

of the new-born nation. In 1800 it went west to the Missis- 
sippi River, and there it stopped. Any of your forefathers 
who crossed that stream found himself in a foreign land, for 
all the vast country on the other side belonged to Spain. 

That country had once belonged to France, whose people 
called it Louisiana, after their king, Louis XIV. Then it was 
given to Spain, and in 1801 Spain gave it back to France. It 
was like a bad penny, passing from hand to hand. And now 
an important event took place which w^e must stop to observe 
before we rattle on. 

The Americans of that time did not want this vast wil- 
derness of Louisiana. They had more land already than they 
knew what to do with. What they did want was the city of 
New Orleans. They wished their vessels to go down the 
Mississippi to the sea without sailing through 
The Louisiana ^^^^ ^^j^ , ^^^ soldicrs of Spain or France, and 

Purchase -^ ^ ^ 

which might be closed against them at any time. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, who was then the emperor of 
France, was asked to sell New Orleans to the United States. 
He was then at war with England and other countries, and 
did not care a fig for all the wild land beyond the seas. What 
he wanted was money to buy food and arms for his soldiers. 
So he offered to sell, not only New Orleans, but the whole 
vast country of Louisiana, to the United States for fifteen 
million dollars. Thomas Jefferson was then President. He 
agreed to buy that great region, and by a stroke of the pen 
it became part of the United States. 

Look out from your car windows on the year 1803, and 
see what it has to show. You behold the United States 
sweeping across the Mississippi River and away west to the 
Rocky Mountains, and growing in a moment to more than 
double its old size. It is like some of the stories you may 
have read of a man planting a twig at night and finding a tree 



AMERICA FROM A CAR WINDOW 27 

in the morning. But if you look westward from the station 
1803 over this new territory I fear you will see nothing but 
mist and fog. You know that it has its tribes of Indians, its 
strange animals, its mighty mountains, its wonders of nature, 
but you see them only like dim ghosts of things. President 
Jefferson had made a leap in the dark. He did not know 
what he had bought. So he sent out two daring men, Cap- 
tains Lewis and Clark, to travel as far west as they could and 
come back and tell him what they had seen. 

These bold men plunged into that unknown land as we 
might plunge into a deep cloud. For two years and a half 
they were lost to sight ; no one knew if they were dead or 
alive. Then they came back ag^ain, after e^oiner . . ,^. . 

^ . , if Lewis and Clark 

over eight thousand miles of unknown land. 

They had a wonderful story to tell of broad plains and 
great rivers, of mighty mountains and grand forests, of 
strange tribes of Indians and endless troops of buffaloes. They 
had gone on till they reached the great Pacific Ocean, and 
then turned back. People read the story of their adventures 
as we read to-day an exciting tale of travel. Only then did 
the people begin to see how rich and great a country 
President Jefferson had bought. 

We are off again now for the next station in our journey. 
As we pass swiftly on we see rapid changes taking place around 
us. People are going west in wagons with their families and 
goods, or floating down the rivers in rude boats. The trees 
are falling, the fields are being planted, new homes are rising, 
towns are extending. The nation is growing. And soon we 
see something new on the inland streams. The steamboat 
appears and begins to beat the water with its broad paddles 
and glides on without oars or sails. 

The people are looking angrily out to sea. What do 
they behold ? There is trouble on the ocean waves. British 



28 AMERICA FROM A CAR WINDOW 

warships are stopping our merchant vessels and taking men 
from them. Many deep-laden ships are seized and all their 
cargoes taken. The Indians are being stirred up to war 
by British scouts. All over the land you may see the 
people talking in anger. They have had a war for liberty 
with England, now they want a war for justice and right. We 
hear them cry, " Free trade and Sailors' rights ! " 

In a moment more we are in the year 1812. Drums are 
beating and soldiers are marching. War has begun. Fight- 
ing takes place, by land and sea. Now the British win battles 
and now the Americans, but neither side is much the better 
for the fighting, and not much glory is gained on shore. 

Let us leave the land and look out to sea. Before our 

eyes proud ships are meeting and great guns are roaring. 

Nearly everywhere we see the old English flag going down 

and the young American flag floating in vic- 

Three Years of , a ■ ' \- ^^\ n j. • • ^.u 

^ ^ tory. America s little fleet is sweepmg the 

seas, fighting the British ships wherever it finds 
them, and bringing them in triumph to port, while the nations 
of the world look on in wonder. We can almost hear them 
hailing the young republic as mistress of the seas. 

And so before our eyes the war goes on to its end and 
both parties stop fighting. Three years of war — what has 
been gained by it ? Not much ; but the Yankees have won 
what they fought for. After that the British warships let their 
merchant vessels and sailors alone. They have been taught 
that America will not stand that sort of thing. 

"All aboard again!" "Put on steam!" Away once 
more we sweep through the years. And as we look out 
around us a wonderful vision passes before our eyes. Peace 
spreads its white wings over all the land. Men have quit 
fighting and gone to working. Everywhere you can hear the 
hammer and saw, the rattle of wheels and the clatter of hoofs. 



AMERICA FROM A CAR WINDO W 29 

Everywhere you can see men busy at work in field and village. 
From every port ships set out for foreign shores, deep laden 
with goods. Other ships bring sturdy men from Europe to 
make their homes in our land. Peace brings wealth, and day 
by day the country grows richer. 

As we look out, east and west, north and south, we see 
new roads being made, new towns started, new cities built. 
In New York state a wonderful work is being done. Hun- 
dreds of men, with spades and other tools in their hands, 
swarm over hill and dale, digging the earth and blasting the 
rocks. The great Erie Canal is being dug. 
Before many years pass we see it finished and ^ ^ ^^^ . 
the water flowing in till it is filled. The long 
lines of canal boats begin their journey, carrying the grain of 
the West to the cities of the East. And through all the rest 
of the century on they go, a steady stream of boats, bearing 
grain to the East and goods to the West. 

A few years more and another strange sight meets our 
eyes. Here and there we notice a double line of iron rails, 
running straight onward. And over them roar and rattle 
smoking engines and trains of loaded cars. The railroad and 
the locomotive are with us at last, the giant agents of modern 
travel and modern industry. The world has moved slowly 
till now ; now it will whirl on with tenfold speed. 

All around us as we glide ahead on our silent journey 
we see factories and workshops rising, steam coming from a 
hundred high chimneys, mines opened and coal and iron being 
drawn from the hearts of the hills, great fields of cotton and 
wheat and corn growing ; while the people still march west, 
driving the Indians before them, cutting down the forest as 
they go, building new homes everywhere, founding young 
cities in a hundred places. Never was there such a people as 
we see around us ; never was there so much done in so short 



30 AMERICA FROM A CAR WINDOW 

a time in any other part of the earth. But what is it we hear 
from the years ahead ? Those are not the sounds of hammer 
and spade, of factory whistle and engine bell. Those sounds 
are the roll of drums, the crack of rifles, the boom of cannon. 
War is again abroad in the land. But war itself brings us 
prosperity, and our country flourishes in the smoke of the 
battle-field. 

There are wars with the Indians, and the red men are 
forced to give up their hunting grounds to be turned into 
farms by the whites. There is trouble with Spain, and that 
country has to sell us the rich region of Florida. There is 
war in Texas, and that great state is added to our Union. 
There is war in Mexico, and the land of gold 
*!, ^ r **^^ " and silver is added to the United States, the 

the Country ' 

rich regions of California and New Mexico. 

One great tract of land comes to us without war, the 
broad domain of Oregon. This ends the march of our coun- 
try across the continent. It has spread from ocean to ocean, 
and extends like a broad belt across the centre of the con- 
tinent. 

All this we see as we glide on and on in our swift and 
silent journey. The country grows before our eyes. In 1800 
it was a large country already, but in 1850 it was four times 
as large, and no countries in the world, except Russia and 
China, surpassed it in size. Was not that a wonderful growth 
for a half century ? It was not settled, it is true ; that was 
the work to be done in the next half century. 

But the fighting is not at an end ; there is more of it 
before us ; a terrible, frightful war which will add nothing to 
the country, but which seems likely to tear it asunder and rob 
it of its greatness and strength. 

As we go on down the century we hear strange sounds 
around us. There are fierce disputes in the halls of Congress ; 



AMERICA FROM A CAR WINDOW 31 

there is fighting in some of the states ; blood is shed, men are 
full of anger, hot passions are rising everywhere. 

It is all about those black-faced laborers whom you see 
working in the cotton and rice and tobacco fields of the South. 
They are slaves ; that is, they belong to the men they work 
for, and can be sold as one would sell a bundle of goods. 
Many men in the North say this is not right, but the planters 
in the South say that the slaves are theirs and no one shall 
rob them of their property. This is what they are talking 
about so hotly in Congress and over the country. It is this 
that in time brings on the dreadful Civil War. 

Soon our train is stopped by the boom of cannon and we 
know that the great conflict has begun. We start again and 
sweep over the years 1861 to 1865, while before us and around 
us are such scenes as we pray never to see 

. 11 ,1 , Bloodshed 

■Bgam. All over the country men are assem- ^^^ strife 
bling and marching, with waving banners and 
shining guns. In a hundred places armies are fighting, and 
men are falling by thousands on the blood-red soil. Terrible 
battles are fought alike in East and West, and the whole 
country seems full of bloodshed and strife. 

Put on steam, engineer ! Hurry us on to the end of this 
frightful war ; it is too terrible to look at long. Ah ! now we 
behold a new scene. There, in a little village in western 
Virginia, the great general of the Southern armies gives up his 
sword to the great general of the North, and the war is at an 
end. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have died, and only 
one good thing is left us to think of — the slaves are free, and 
the Union is saved. 

Now we glide into a scene of peace and prosperity. The 
plough has taken the place of the sword, and everybody, North 
and South, is hard at work again. Never before did a coun- 
try grow rich so fast. As we move on we see the fields yield- 



32 AMERICA FROM A CAR WINDOW 

ing their corn and cotton, the mills producing their goods and 
machines, the people fast increasing in numbers, and wealth 
heaping up on all sides, until our country becomes the richest 
on the face of the earth. 

Great World's Fairs are opened and the people of the 

nations are bidden to come and see all that we have to show. 

They come and look on in wonder at the sight. And what 

many of them most wonder at is the city of Chicago, where 

the last of these Fairs is held. Sixty years ago 

fII^s ^''''''*'^ ^^^^^ ^^^' ^ ^^^^^ village. Twenty years ago it 
was set on fire and nearly burned to the ground. 
Yet now it has more than a million people and is one of the 
great cities of the earth. Is not this something to make 
people wonder and stare ? Why, the genii of the Arabian 
Nights could hardly have done more. 

But here we are near the end of our century - long 
journey. Look again, there is something more to see. In a 
cold country of the north, which we bought from Russia many 
years ago, men are busily at work digging gold. This frozen 
soil of Alaska proves to be rich in the yellow metal. 

And a year farther on the roar of cannon begins again.' 
The United States are now at war with Spain, to punish that 
country for its cruelty to the people of Cuba. It is soon 
over ; the sound of the gun dies away ; Cuba is free, and our 
country has spread out over far-off islands of the sea. It has 
won islands in the East and the West, and is now lord of the 
great sugar lands of the earth. 

Here we are at last ! This noble station is that of the 
year 1900. How grand and vast it is compared with that 
from which we set out, a hundred years in the past ! Our 
journey is at an end. We step out on the platform leading 
to the twentieth century, and wonder what marvels it has in 
store for us. Can they be greater than those we have seen ? 



•5:*"!I>J"'<i»- 




^^' 




NAPOLEON AND THE QUEEN OF PRUSSIA AT TILSIT (from the painting by gros) 

Tiisit is a city of about 2^.000 inhabitants in Eastern Prussia. Here the Treaty of Peace between the French 
and Russian Emperors and also between France and Prussia was signed in J uly. 1807. 



CHAPTER III 




A Bird's=Eye View of the Old World 

HOPE every one of you enjoyed the trip through 
time which we have just taken, for I am going 
to ask you to set out with me on another jour- 
ney, this time over the Old World. Do all of 
my readers know where the Old World is ? Of 
course there is only one world, which takes in the whole 
earth. But after America was discovered men got in the way 
of calling it the New World. Then the other continents, 
which they had known so long, were called the Old W^orld. 
In that way our one world was split up into two. This was 
not correct, but it was an easy way of saying what could not 
be said so easily any other way ; so it is still in use. 

We took our trip through the New World by rail. That 
is, we built a sort of railroad in the mind, and traveled on it 
down the century. But the Old World is so 
big and has so many countries that I think one 
had better go over it by balloon, and look down on it as a 
bird does when flying through the clouds. 

Jump in the car, then ; cut loose the ropes ; hold on 
tight, everybody ! Up we go, miles above the earth as it was 
in the year 1800. Away we dart with the speed of the winds, 
looking down on the broad lands which lie spread out like a 
map beneath us. Over Europe and Asia and Africa we 
swiftly glide, for these are the continents of the Old World. 
Then we pass out to sea and float over the great island of 
Australia, which is as large as a continent. 



Off in a Balloon 



34 A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD WORLD 

But how little we see of the land beneath us. Clouds 
spread thickly over it and blot out nearly the whole of 
Australia and great regions of Africa and Asia. Remember 
that we are in the year 1800, when very little was known 
about those continents. A dense cloud of ignorance rested 
upon them and hid them from view. As you look down you 
will see that Europe is the only part of the Old World which 
is free from clouds and can be seen from end to end. We 
had better float slowly over that continent and take a bird's- 
eye view of what is going on there. 

We see below us a continent of many countries — little 
and big, high and low. Everywhere there are great throngs 
of people ; but, mercy on us ! how poorly they live and how 
hard they work. Kings and nobles hold all the power, and 
most of the people live and work like slaves. Look to the 
far west and you will see the English islands. 
H^rdw^k There the people have the most liberty. They 

are beginning to see the dawn of better times. 
Then as we float eastward over France and Germany, the 
liberty of the people grows less. And when we come to 
Russia, in the far east, we find that nearly all the people are 
slaves. In Turkey, which lies to the south, we reach a land 
in which no one dreams of freedom. Do not forget that we 
are looking at Europe in the year 1800. You would see 
much more liberty there if you were in 1900. 

Let us sail down the early years of the century, and see 
what they have to show us. War ! war ! fighting everywhere 1 
All Europe in turmoil ! Soldiers marching, drums beating, 
guns thundering, houses burning, people bleeding and dying, 
while over it all waves a blood-red flag, on which is the one 
word "Glory." But the glory it means is that won on the 
battle-field ; that which evil spirits revel in and which good 
men detest. 



A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD WORLD 35 

We see, far beneath us, the great armies of France, led 
by the terrible Napoleon, marching over Europe, while the 
armies of the other nations gather to oppose him. It is to one 
man that the world owes all this death and terror. Millions 
must suffer and die so that he can win glory. And yet, when 
this man fails and falls, there are many who pity him. But I 
hope all my readers love deeds of great good more than deeds 
of great evil. History lays flowers on the graves of great 
conquerors, but they are flowers wet with blood. 

Away we go again down the years. The famous soldier 
is dying on an island in the far ocean, the wars are over, the 
dead are buried, the burned homes are built 
again, peace is on the land. But peace has not ^^^^^^ Ln>ert 
brought liberty, hard work does not yield plenty 
and comfort, life is hard to live in Europe except for the 
nobles and kings, and for years the people suffer still. 

Of all the countries beneath us England is the busiest 
and happiest. From all her ports ships are sailing, setting 
out for the uttermost parts of the earth, deep laden with goods 
for distant lands. And others are coming in laden with the 
richest products of the world. Over all the island factories 
are rising and wheels are whirling. From our high outlook 
the country beneath us looks like a great ant-hill, with the 
ants hastening to and fro, all of them actively at work. 

England is the busiest, but the other nations are busy. 
We see the red flames of battle die out in France and the 
white banners of peace waving over her cities. Her people 
are active, in peace as in war, and plenty is coming back 
again. And as we sweep on over Europe we see men at 
work everywhere, and the whole continent growing rich and 
prosperous. 

But ah ! the trumpet sounds again, and from afar comes 
the long roll of the drum. The demon of war, banished from 



36 A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD WORLn 

the earth, is here with his red banner once more. There are 
still kings who love glory ; there are nations moved by ambi- 
tion ; there are peoples weary of being slaves. So from time 
to time through the years the torch of war is kindled and 
waved over bloody battle-fields. 

I shall not tell you here about these wars. We are now 

taking a bird's-eye view, looking down on Europe as we glide 

rapidly through the years. We shall come down to the earth 

in later chapters and take a closer look at the 

Outlines for the i j ^i • i • a i.- i. i 

^ people and their kmgs. An artist, you know, 

draws his picture first in a few strong lines, and 
then fills in between the lines. Here we are drawing the out- 
lines for our picture of the century ; we shall fill it in later. 

All I need say here is that there were wars between 
Russia and Turkey, France and Austria, Prussia and Austria, 
and a great war between Germany and France. These were 
all due to ambition and land hunger. Russia was not big 
enough. She wanted a slice of Turkey for her Christmas 
dinner. And there was another Napoleon who tried to win 
glory, and who lost his throne as his great uncle had done. 

The people, too, fought for liberty and union. In Italy 
they fought for union ; in France, for liberty. In Hungary 
and Germany and Greece and other countries the people rose 
and struck for freedom. And as we sweep on down the cen- 
tury we find they have not fought in vain. Italy is united 
into one kingdom ; France is a republic ; everywhere except 
in the east the kings have lost power and the people have 
gained liberty, and in Russia the slaves have been set free. 
In 1900 we look down on a very different Europe from that 
which we saw in 1800. 

Now let us put our air-ship before the wind and sail off 
elsewhere over the earth. Europe is not the world, though 
some of the people of that proud continent seem to think it is. 



A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD WORLD 37 

It is not even all the Old World, for there are Asia and 
Africa and the islands of the seas. So off we go again to see 
if the clouds have fled and revealed hidden lands. 

Yes, the clouds are rising. Year by year we see them 
grow thinner and fade out. Let us look down on Africa. See 
those bold travelers who are making their way inland, from 
the north and the south, from the east and the west. Fierce 
chiefs and savage tribes try to stop them. Many of them 
suffer, some of them are slain, but the most of them come 
back to tell the world about what the clouds so long concealed. 

While the years go by we look down on some of these 
daring men as they cross the continent from sea to sea. They 
tell the world of rich soils, crowded countries, strange won- 
ders of nature. The cloud is fading out. We see the fruitful 
plains of Africa spreading far and wide, while 
the nations of ^urope are sending ships and j^l^^^ '" 
soldiers to claim those fruitful realms as their 
own. It sounds like a story we have read before, that of the 
Europeans who came to America and took it from the red- 
skinned natives. Now the nations of Europe are beginning to 
take Africa from the blacks. 

As we look down from our lofty perch we see fighting 
going on. The English are fighting in Egypt, in Abyssinia, 
in Guinea, and in other places. And at the very end of the 
century we see them fighting in the far south, not with the 
Arabs or the blacks, but with the old Dutch settlers of the 
land. Here are mines of the yellow gold and the glittering 
diamond, and love of these brings the century to an end in war. 

Fresh blow the southwest winds. Let us put our air-ship 
before them and sail away to distant Asia. Ah ! here, too, the 
English are before us. They hold the great peninsula of 
India in the south. Through this crowded land they make 
their way with sword and gun, conquering kings and chiefs, 



38 A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD WORLD 

putting down rebellion, spreading their power on all sides, 
until they are lords of a nation that counts its people by hun- 
dreds of millions. 

As we float farther north the clouds spread below us and 
hide the great inner country from our eyes. Now and then 
we see a traveler making his way in and coming back with a 
strange story of adventure and discovery. And later on 
armies begin to take the place of travelers. Russia, which 
has been driven out of Turkey, now seeks to win the heart of 
Asia. The cloud rises as the armies press forward. The 
people fisrht fiercely for their homes, but the 

Russia in Asia \ ^ -l i t-. • • 

armies march on. In the end Russia wins and 
Central Asia is hers. That great continent, in which so 
many nations have lived and died, is now nearly all held 
by three strong powers — Russia, England and China. Only 
Turkey, Persia and Arabia remain, and Russia is laying her 
plans to add these to her mighty empire. 

Turn your eyes to the far east, for a great event is there 
to take place. Off the coast of Asia lies a group of islands 
over which the clouds have long been dense. This is the 
empire of Japan, whose doors for centuries have been closed 
against the people of Europe. But as we look the cloud 
quickly lifts and floats away, and Japan spreads far and clear 
beneath us. It has opened its doors at last, and travelers and 
merchants are swarming in. 

Civilization comes in with the strangers, Japan has 
become suddenly very much alive. Its people begin to read 
and study. They throw off their old ways and take on new 
ones. They build telegraphs and railroads, buy iron-clad 
ships of war, drill armies, and soon they are at war with 
China and have beaten that great empire, with its vast popula- 
tion. The awakening of Japan is a marvelous story. There 
is nothing like it in the history of the world. 



A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD WORLD 39 

But we have not covered all the Old World yet. We 
must end our long journey by sweeping swiftly over the great 
Pacific Ocean, with its multitude of islands, and noting what 
the century is doing there. 

Once more England is ahead of us. The largest of these 
ocean realms, the great island of Australia, is English soil, 
and as we gaze it grows from a small colony into a powerful 
nation. At the very end of the century we see the scattered 
colonies joining into a powerful union, which 
we may call the United States of the South yj^^^^ 
Seas. England holds them still, but it is like 
a boy holding an ox with a string. England dare not pull 
too hard for fear they will break the string and set out a great 
independent country. 

Sweeping on, right and left over the ocean, we see the 
powers of Europe taking possession of its many islands, and 
planting civilization where only savagery ruled before. And 
last of all comes our own country, laying its hand on the 
Philippine Islands. At the very end of the century the United 
States leaps out from the New World and gains a foothold in 
the Old. 

This ends the story of the century in the great world of 
the East. It is a remarkable story. Civilization has marched 
on like a mighty army. Barbarism and savagery have fallen 
back before it. Railroads are being built widely over Asia 
and Africa. The telegraph runs there over broad lands and 
under mighty seas. The book, the school, and the church are 
following the warship and the army. With the year 1900 the 
old story of the East reaches its end. What the twentieth 
century will bring to that great region no man can say. The 
change in the past has been wonderful ; in the future it may 
be more wonderful still. 



CHAPTER IV 



Napoleon, the Great Conqueror 




AM going to say something here about what 
seems to me a very wrong thing. When I tell 
you what it is I hope you will all agree with 
me. It is about the way people use the word 
"great." In the study of history we keep com- 
ing across men who are called "great." There are Alex- 
ander the Great, Charles the Great, Frederick the Great, 
Napoleon the Great, and others I might name. But when 
we come to read about them we find these men were great 
only in the number of men they killed. He who kills one 
man to steal his purse is hung as a murderer ; but he who 
kills a million men to steal their kingdoms is called great 
and is made a hero of history, and people are 
ready to fall on their knees, and worship him. 
I do not like this, and I hope you do not. 
Nobody speaks of Homer the Great, or Shakespeare the .Great, 
or Lincoln the Great, or a hundred others, every one of whom 
is greater than the greatest conqueror". If we wish to call 
men great we ought to pick out those who have been great 
for good, not those who have been great for evil. Living- 
stone, the noble traveler, was a much greater man than 
Napoleon, the ruthless conqueror. I shall tell you about 
Livingstone later on, but here I must give you the story of 
Napoleon, since he had so much to do with the history of 
the nineteenth century. 

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NAPOLEON, THE GREAT CONQUEROR 41 

Napoleon Bonaparte began life as a poor boy. He was 
born in the little island of Corsica, in the Mediterranean Sea. 
Corsica then belonged to France, and this made him a French 
citizen, so he went to a military school in France and learned 
the trade of a soldier. Then he went into the army, but for 
a number of years he was kept down at the bottom of the 
ladder, and it looked as if he would never begin to climb. 
He got out of heart, and walked about the streets of Paris 
with an empty pocket, just as men do when they come to a 
strange city to look for work. If he had only jumped over- 
board and drowned himself at that time it would have been 
a bad thing for Napoleon, but it would have been a good 
thing for the hundreds of thousands of men who were after- 
wards killed in his battles. 

How did this poor, down-hearted soldier come to be the 
most celebrated general and conqueror of the nineteenth 
century ? That is what I propose to tell you. When the 
century began Napoleon Bonaparte was the 
most famous man in the world, and for fifteen }^^ French 

Revolution 

years afterwards the history of this wonderful 
soldier was the history of Europe. So the first stage of our 
rapid journey through the century must be given to the story 
of Napoleon the Conqueror. 

Napoleon was a great military genius, but like all such 
men he needed a great chance, and this came to him with the 
French Revolution. Many of you may have read how, in 
1789, the French people rose against their king, and over- 
turned the government which had lasted a thousand years, 
and so hated the king and queen, the nobles and priests, that 
they cut off the heads of all they could lay their hands on. 
There was so terrible a state of affairs in France that all who 
could escape left the country, and these got the other kings 
of Europe to send armies to put down the Revolution. This 



42 NAPOLEON, THE GREAT CONQUEROR 

brought on war on all sides of the country and gave Napo- 
leon the chance that was to make him great and famous. 

I am going to give you only a bird's-eye view of the 
career of Napoleon, such a view as you would have of events 
on the earth if you looked down on them from a great height 
in the air. He won his first victory over the mob in the 
streets of Paris. The law-makers of the Revolution called on 
him to defend them from the mob, and Napoleon did so by 
loading his cannon and firing at the rioters. The generals 
before him had fired blank cartridges. He fired cannon balls 
and scared the mob out of its wits. That put an end to the 
Revolution. 

Napoleon was then sent with an army to Italy, and there 
he won a wonderful victory over the Austrians. In a short 
time he conquered nearly all Italy, and made 
apo eon in -^ ^ republic like France. People everywhere 

began to read of him with wonder. They saw 
that a great soldier had come into the world. Not for cen- 
turies had there been such victories as his. 

When Napoleon came back from Italy to France the 
people were almost ready to worship him. The French peo- 
ple, you should know, have always been fonder of great 
soldiers than of great men of any other kind. But Napoleon 
knew that he must keep on winning battles or the people 
would soon get tired of praising him. So, as there was no 
other army to fight with in Europe, he put an army on ship- 
board and sailed away to Egypt, where he began to fight with 
the Arabs and the Turks. 

I cannot say what he hoped to do there. Perhaps he 
thought he would set free the Holy Land from the Turks, as 
the Crusaders had tried to do many centuries before, and in 
this way win great glory. But the English followed him to 
Egypt and sunk his ships, and stopped his marches, and gave 



NAPOLEON, THE GREAT CONQUEROR 43 

him SO much trouble that he got tired of it and sailed back to 
France. Here he was made First Consul, which gave him 
almost the power of a king. That was the way things stood 
in France in the year 1800. 

Have any of you ever been at the theatre and seen a 
jgreat tragic play like some of Shakespeare's, where soldiers 
Jmarch on the stage, and batttes are fought, and victories won, 
and in the end the right is triumphant and the wrong is over- 
thrown ? If you have you will know what I mean when I 
say that for the first fifteen years of the eighteenth century 
Europe was like a great stage on which a 
mighty tragedy is being played. There was ^^ ^ °"^^ 
marching to and fro, and beating of drums, 
and roar of cannon, and battles were lost and won. And in 
the end the mighty hero of the play was defeated and over- 
thrown. If you want a name for this wonderful drama, I 
might call it "The Career of Napoleon the Conqueror." I 
am going to tell you in this chapter the story of that great 
tragedy. 

Napoleon was not long back from Egypt before France 
was at war again. The fleets of England were on the sea 
seeking to destroy the fleets of France. And Austria, whose 
armies Napoleon had defeated before, had new armies in the 
field. The largest of these armies was in Italy, where Napo- 
leon had beaten them once, and where he determined to fight 
them again. 

Between France and Switzerland on the north and Italy 
on the south there lies a great mountain wall, the Alps. 
These mountains are very high and their tops are always 
white with snow. Two thousand years ago Hannibal, one 
of the great generals of ancient times, led an army across 
these mountains to attack the armies of Rome. Napoleon 
thought he could do what Hannibal had done, so he took his 



44 NAPOLEON, THE GREAT CONQUEROR 

army across the mountain heights, through steep and broken 
passes in which ice and snow He all the year. It was a terri- 
ble journey. Heavy cannons had to be dragged with ropes 
over the hills, and wagon-loads of food to be taken through 
the rough passes. But Napoleon rode with his army and 
cheered his men and nothing could stop them, neither cold 
winds, nor deep snows, nor rugged rocks. Soon they were 
past all dangers and came down on the level plain of Italy. 

The Austrians did not dream of an army coming on them 
from the mountains, like a great host of war eagles descend- 
ing from the clouds. They were scattered about, here and 
there, and you may be sure there was a busy time in bringing 
them together again. Napoleon and his army came upon 
them at a place called Marengo, where a terrible 
^ro ing e battle took place. The Austrians fought so 
hard that the French were for a time defeated, 
and their general sent off word that he had beaten the ter- 
rible Corsican. But while his messenger was riding away 
some fresh soldiers came up to join Napoleon, and in a little 
time the Austrian Army was broken to pieces and fleeing in 
haste from the field. 

That was one great victory. Others were won and 
Austria was forced to beg for peace. Not long afterwards, in 
1802, peace was made between England and France, and 
Napoleon was triumphant over ail his enemies. He could do 
what he pleased with the people of France. If he had asked 
them to worship him as a god some of them would have done 
so. He had brought them so much glory that many looked 
on him as more than a man. What he wanted was to make 
a great show before the world. Ten years before he had been 
wandering about the streets of Paris, with nothing to do and 
not always sure of getting a dinner. Now he was the most 
famous man and most powerful ruler in Europe. But he had 



NAPOLEON, THE GREAT CONQUEROR 45 

no title except that of First Consul. That was- not enough 
for his ambition. He might have made himself King, but 
Emperor sounded larger, so he made himself Emperor. He 
was elected Emperor of the French by the people, and was 
crowned by the Pope on the 2d of December, 1805. The 
little Corsican had made a great leap upwards. 

-PU 1- 1 .1 Napoleon is 

1 he new emperor did not have peace very ,. ^ ^^ 

^ . Made Emperor 

long, and I do not fancy he wanted it. None of 
the monarchs could trust him. He would break his word when- 
ever he thought he could gain anything by it. He seemed to 
be so fond of power and glory that he would force the nations 
to war that he might beat them in the field and gain the 
fame of being one of the greatest conquerors ever known. 

Very soon England was at war with him again, and 
afterwards came Austria and Russia and Prussia. He met 
and defeated them all except England. It would be too long 
to tell you about all his great victories. There were Auster- 
litz and Jena and Friedland and Wagram and many more, 
in which the Austrians and Russians and Prussians were 
defeated. No army could beat him in the field. The French 
were ready to follow him to death, for he brought them the 
glory that they loved so well. And every victory gave him 
greater power, until he had all western Europe under his 
thumb, and no king of them all dared do anything which did 
not please the Corsican conqueror. 

But too much glory is like too much wine or brandy, one 
grows intoxicated with it. Napoleon became drunk with 
glory, and like all drunkards he wanted more and more. All 
Europe was now at his feet except Russia, and he determined 
that the great empire of the north should be his slave like the 
others. So he gathered one of the mightiest armies Europe 
had ever seen. It was made up not only of French, but of 
Austrians and Prussians and Italians and other peoples, there 



46 NAPOLEON, THE GREAT CONQUEROR 

being more than 600,000 soldiers in all, with as many more 
who were not soldiers, but what are called camp followers. 

At the beginning of July, 181 2, the Grand Army, as it 
was called, crossed the Niemen River and began its march on 
Russian soil. Oh ! if it had known to what a terrible fate it 
was going ! In all history there is no greater tragedy than 
that of the Grand Army. On and on, across the vast plains 
of Russia, went the mighty host. It was eager 
Arm *"*" ^^ fight, but there was nobody to fight with. 

The Russian army kept just out of reach. It 
was hot summer weather and the men fell out of their ranks 
as fast as they would have done in a great battle. For two 
months they went on, marching to Moscow, the old capital of 
Russia. When they got there more than half the Grand 
Army had disappeared. 

At length the great city rose before them, with its gilded 
cupolas and lofty spires shining in the bright rays of the sun. 
Into the splendid capital marched the troops, full of joy, and 
expecting to see a great multitude of people. To their aston- 
ishment there was no one to be seen. It was an empty city. 
Its inhabitants were gone. They had vanished like the mist 
of the morning. But Napoleon was master of the grand old 
capital of Russia, and he thought the emperor would now be 
glad to make peace with him. 

But he was to have a frightful awakening from his dream 
of glory. The morning after the army had entered Moscow 
in triumph terrible news were brought to the conqueror. The 
city was on fire. Flames were bursting out in a dozen places. 
There was a high wind, which carried them swiftly from house 
to house until the whole city became a mighty mass of flame. 
The Russians had set the city on fire and all the Grand Army 
could not put it out. For three days it burned, and when at 
length the flames sank away only a heap of ashes remained. 



NAPOLEON, THE GREAT CONQUEROR 47 

Moscow was the grave of Napoleon's glory. He waited 
in the ashes of the city for the emperor of Russia to ask for 
peace. But no word came from the emperor, and the Grand 
Army was forced to march away again, glad no longer, but 
sad and despairing. The Russian armies followed it and 
attacked it at every point. The terrible Rus- 
sian winter came upon it, and more men died ^^ ^^" ^ 
from the bitter cOld than from the Russian 
guns. It was the most dreadful march in history. In the 
middle of December about 16,000 men crossed the Niemen, 
ragged and weary ghosts of soldiers, all that were left of the 
600,000 splendidly arrayed warriors who had crossed that 
river six months before. 

Back through Europe went this worn-out fragment of the 
Grand Army. Napoleon brought up other soldiers and fought 
his foes at a dozen points. But now he was fighting for life, 
not for glory. As he went back his allies fell off. The Prus- 
sians and Austrians left him and joined the Russians against 
him. They hated him so that they took the first opportunity 
for revenge. He won new victories, but at length, at the 
terrible battle of Leipzig, he met with a fatal defeat, and had 
to lead his bleeding columns back to France. 

After him hastened a vast army made up of nearly all the 
nations of Europe, all those who had felt the cruel hand of the 
Conqueror and were now joined together for his defeat. He 
fought until he could fight no longer, and then 
he was forced to yield. The monarchs of Europe ^^ 
made him give up his throne, and sent him to 
the little island of Elba, in the Mediterranean Sea. He who 
had led an army of 600,000 men had now only 400 of his old 
soldiers ; he who had lorded it over half of Europe had only 
a small piece of land in the open sea. " How had the mighty 
fallen ! " 



48 NAPOLEON, THE GREAT CONQUEROR 

But the enemies of the fallen emperor made one mistake. 
Elba was much too near to France and they did not watch 
him closely enough. In less than a year he gave them the slip, 
took ship across the sea, and was back in France again. Some 
of his old officers and soldiers were sent to stop him, but when 
Napoleon spoke to them they threw down their arms and 
rushed to welcome him. Back to Paris he marched in 
triumph, and once again he was emperor of France and with 
an army under his command. 

When news of this spread through Europe there was a 
terrible fright. The wolf was out of his cage ! The mighty 
war lord was abroad again ! The rulers trem- 
in France ^^ hX^^ with fear as they thought of the past fifteen 
years. There was no time to lose. The armies 
were called out in haste and set on the march back to France. 
It was not safe to give the Corsican too much time. 

Napoleon's new reign lasted just one hundred days. In 
the middle of June, 1815, he met an army of English and 
Prussians on the field of Waterloo, near Brussels, in Belgium. 

Here the Conqueror fought his last and one of his 
greatest battles. Never did he fight better, never did the 
French show more courage ; but fortune was against him and 
the great battle was lost. Napoleon fled from the field with 
hardly a soldier to follow him. 

That was the end of the mighty drama. He fell into the 
hands of his old enemies, the English, who now sent him to 
the rocky island of St. Helena, far away in the South Atlantic 
Ocean. They were determined that he should not come back 
again. They w^atched him there like a prisoner in his cell. In 
a few years he died, and then, for the first time since the 
beginning of the century, Europe breathed free. The great 
war lord was no more. 




WELLINGTON AT WATERLOO GIVING THE WORD TO ADVANCE 

•Ihis spirited illustration figures the final event in the .n.ighty struggle at Waterloo when the F eh fterh^^^^^^^ 



CHAPTER V 




Nelson the Sailor and Wellington the 

Soldier 

THINK 1 shall have to ask you to look at the 
map of Europe again. Near the western coast 
of France you will see a little group of islands. 
There is a large one on which you will perceive 
two names, England and Scotland, and a smaller 
one named Ireland, and several tiny ones scattered around 
them like crumbs of land. The whole of them do not take 
up much room on the map. If you were in a hurry you 
might pass over them without noticing them at all. But 
small as they are these islands take up a great deal of room 
in the history of the world. In the story of the world for a 
few hundred years back you will read more about England 
than about any other nation on the earth. 

Why is this ? What is there in this half of an island 
that makes historians talk so much about it ? I can tell you 
in a very few words. It is because the English have been 
the most active and enterprising people on the 
globe. If you had gone to any part of the 
world you would have seen many more English 
ships than those of any other nation. Also the great travelers 
and discoverers were most of them English, and there was 
no country in the w^orld with so many mines and workshops 
and such a rattle of wheels. Canada, India, Australia, and 
large parts of Africa belonged to England. The United 

49 



The Half of an 
Island 



50 NELSON THE SAILOR— WELLINGTON THE SOLDIER 

States was settled by the English. Thus England, though 
only a part of a small island, had become the most active 
country on the globe. 

All the nations of Europe fought with Napoleon Bona- 
parte, and they were all beaten except England. If it had 
not been for the people of that island Napoleon might have 
become the emperor of Europe. So you see I cannot give 
the story of the nineteenth century without saying a good 
deal about England. 

I have told you about the great French soldier and con- 
queror. Now I must say something about the two English 
warriors who had so much to do with his overthrow — Nelson, 
the hero of the seas, and Wellington, the victor at Waterloo. 

Napoleon was the lord of the land, but he was never the 

lord of the sea. And that was because his ships had to fight 

with one of the greatest sailors that was ever 

e son, e known, Horatio Nelson, the famous British 

Sea-King ' ' 

admiral. Napoleon was a soldier, not a sailor. 
At sea he had to trust to his captains, and the best of them 
were no match for Nelson, the sea-king. I cannot tell you 
about all the victories of this valiant sailor, so I shall speak 
only of the two greatest, those of Aboukir and Trafalgar. 

When Napoleon went to Egypt he took a strong fleet 
with him, and while he was fighting on land his ships lay in 
Aboukir Bay, waiting until he should be ready to return home. 
Here Nelson came in sight of them on the ist of August 
1798, and one of the most famous of naval battles was fought. 

The French were stronger than the British. They had 
more ships, more guns, and more men. They were drawn 
up in line of battle, with the land behind them and the sea 
before them, and it looked as if they could drive off a force twice 
their own. But in one thing they failed, they did not have a 
Nelson to command them, and that made all the difference 



NELSON, THE SAILOR— WELLINGTON, THE SOLDIER 51 

*' Before this time to-morrow I shall have gained a vic- 
tory or Westminster Abbey," said Nelson. He meant by this 
that he would fight till he was victorious or dead, and would 
win such glory that his countrymen would be glad to bury 
him in Westminster Abbey, where the noblest of the English 
have their tombs. 

I shall not tell you the full story of this battle. It was 
fought in the eighteenth century, and this book is about the 
nineteenth. But I may say that the " Battle of the Nile," as 
it is called, was one of the most glorious of English naval 
victories. Nelson was a man who did not know what it 
means to fail. He attacked the French with the fierceness of 
the sea-dogs of old times, and when he was done there was 
no French fleet left. Thirteen great ships-of-the-line were in 
the French fleet, and of these only two escaped. Of four 
frigates, one was sunk and one was burned. 
The British lost 895 men, but the loss of the t^^iyj^ 
French was 5,225. Nelson suddenly became a 
famous man. He was like our own Admiral Dewey, for one 
day's work set all the world to talking about him. It is 
curious that the Battle of the Nile was fought just one hun- 
dred years before the Battle of Manila Bay. If you ask what 
important result came from Nelson's victory, I will answer 
that it cut off the French army from France. When Napo- 
leon was ready to go home again he was not able to take 
his soldiers with him, for his powerful fleet had ceased to 
exist ; so he had to go alone in a fast ship and leave his men 
behind. It was not long before they were forced to surrender 
to their enemies ; so you may see that Nelson on the sea got 
the best of Napoleon on land. 

Now I must tell you about Nelson's great victory at 
Trafalgar, which took place in the year 1805. Napoleon at 
that time had a very strong fleet, for the war-vessels of Spain 



52 NELSON, THE SAILOR— WELLINGTON, THE SOLDIER 

were added to those of France. But Nelson did not care how 
many of them there were ; all he asked was the chance to fight 
them. The French and Spaniards sailed to the West Indies, 
and he followed them. They sailed home again, and he fol- 
lowed them back. And when, on the 19th of October, they 
set sail from the port of Cadiz — thirty-four great ships-of-the- 
line and many smaller craft — Nelson was still hot upon their 
track. And he was a glad man that day, for he was sure that 
he had them now. 

I am afraid that if you had seen those ships you would 
have laughed at the idea of their fighting battles. Now-a-days 
a warship is a grim-looking thing of steel and iron, with steam 
to drive it through the waves and huge guns that think noth- 
ing of hurling a great ball five or six miles. The ships of a 
century ago were as different from these as 
Warships a ^^ ^^^j^ ^^^jj 1^^ ^j^ ^^^^^ clumsy-looking 

Century Ago ■' ■ •' . 

craft, with broad bows and high wooden sides 
lifting far out of the sea, and tall masts with a great show 
of white sails, for the wind did then what steam does to-day. 
One of our battleships would soon have sent Lord Nelson's 
fleet, with its wooden sides and little guns, to the bottom 
of the sea. But he had ships of his own kind to fight with, 
so one side was as good as the other, and their guns were so 
small that they had to come close together to fight at all. 

The English and French fleets met off Cape Trafalgar, 
near the southern end of Spain. When Nelson saw the 
enemy before him he was very glad. He hoisted the signal, 
"England expects that every man to-day will do his duty." 
The people of England have been proud of that signal ever 
since, and it has become a national watchword that "England 
expects every man to do his duty." 

Nelson was not long in getting to work. In sailed his 
ships and soon the roar of cannon was heard, splinters began 



NELSON, THE SAILOR— WELLINGTON, THE SOLDIER 53 

to fly, and men to fall. It was the most famous sea-battle in 
all history. Nelson pushed his flagship into the midst of the 
French fleet until there were eight ships around it pouring in 
cannon balls, while for a time it could not fire a shot back. 
But the British sailors kept to their guns and waited their 
chance. When it came they amply repaid the French for all 
they had lost, while everywhere around them the fight went 
hotly on. 

The English conquered, but Nelson fell. In the thick of 
the fight a musket ball struck him in the back, and he dropped 
on the deck with a mortal wound. While the battle went on 
he was slowly dying. Captain Hardy, the com- 
mander of his ship, came to tell him that all ^^ ^ ^ **"" '"^ 
was going well. "I'm a dead man. Hardy;" 
he said, "but I'm glad of what you say. Whip them, now 
you've got them. Whip them as they've never been whipped 
before." 

Captain Hardy obeyed orders. He whipped them well, 
and Nelson lived to know it. Then the spirit of the great 
admiral floated away on the wings of victory. He had won 
the greatest sea-fight in English history. His country did all 
it could to honor him. It had made him a lord and a high 
admiral. Now it gave him a splendid tomb — not in West- 
minster Abbey ,but in the Cathedral of St. Paul, where it may 
be seen to-day. 

While Lord Nelson was fighting the French at sea, 
another great Englishman, Sir Arthur Wellesley, or Lord 
Wellington, as he was afterwards named, was fighting them 
on land. When he was only plain Sir Arthur, he had been a 
soldier and won victories in India. Then, when Napoleon 
took possession of Spain and Portugal as a man might walk 
into his neighbor's house and take possession of his parlor and 
dining room, this soldier from India was sent to Portugal to 



54 NELSON, THE SAILOR— WELLINGTON, THE SOLDIER 

fight the French. He was there in 1808, and he stayed there 
till 18 1 4, when Napoleon was sent to Elba. 

First, he drove the French out of Portugal. Then he 
followed them into Spain, and fought them there, winning 
victory after victory, till the French were driven out of Spain 
as they had been out of Portugal. Napoleon was angry 
enough when he found this Englishman defeating his best 
generals. He would have gone to Spain to fight Wellington 
himself if it had not been for his plan of making war on 
Russia. Thus it happened that Wellington and Napoleon 
never met in battle till 181 5, during the famous "hundred 
days " of v.-hich you read in the last chapter. 

I told you then about the panic the kings of Europe were 
in when they heard that their dangerous enemy had escaped 
and was back again in France. Everywhere soldiers were 
gathered with the greatest haste, and set in 
Belgium march for the soil of France. In the British 

Islands every man in arms was hurried to the 
sea and sent on ships to Belgium, the country which lies 
north of France. At their head was Lord Wellington, 
England's most famous soldier. When he got to Belgium 
he found there soldiers of half-a-dozen nations, Dutch, Belgi- 
ans, Germans, and others, all of whom were put under his 
command. Near by was a strong army of Prussians, under 
Marshal Bliicher, a bold and able general. And not far away 
was Napoleon's army, which he had gathered in all haste to 
meet his foes. In it were many of his old soldiers, and many 
new recruits, most of them little more than boys, for the wars 
of the past had not left many men in France. 

Soon the armies met, and there was some hard fighting. 
Blucher was defeated and driven back. After the fight Wel- 
lington withdrew and encamped on a field which has ever 
since been famous — the field of Waterloo. It was the evening 



NELSON, THE SAILOR— WELLINGTON, THE SOLDIER 55 

of the I yth of June. Rain was falling heavily, the water turned 
the roads into streams, and the fields were like swamps. All 
night long the rain came down, and the soldiers, worn out 
with their long march, flung themselves down in the mud to 
try and sleep. When morning broke the rain stopped, and 
they built fires to dry themselves as well they could. 

That day, the i8th of June, 18 15, was the day of the 
most famous battle in modern history, for it was the day in 
which the sun of Napoleon Bonaparte, the mighty conqueror, 
set never to rise again. Wellington and his army waited. 
They knew what that day meant for the world. If they were 
beaten, the French emperor might become the master of 
Europe again. If they were victorious, his power would be 
at an end. Never had victory been more 

^ 1. J r li- r u T^he Struggle at 

important, and every man lelt as 11 he was YVaterioo 
fighting for home and freedom. 

It was just before noon when the two armies came 
together, the French attacking the English on the defence. 
In the middle of the battle-field was a strong stone house 
called Hougoumont, with outbuildings and walls around it, 
and here for hours a terrible struggle went on. The British 
held it, and all day long the French tried their best to take it 
from them, but in vain. At two o'clock the great body of the 
French army threw itself on the British lines, and fought des- 
perately to break through. For more than an hour the terrific 
fight went on, cannons roared, muskets flashed, sabres 
gleamed, men fell in hundreds and were trampled into the 
mud. Twice, thrice, the French came on, and as often were 
driven back. In the end, they were repulsed with fearful 
loss. But Wellington's men lost heavily also, and could not 
have stood another such attack. 

I have told you how Bliicher and his Prussians were 
defeated two days before by the French. He had retreated, 



56 NELSON, THE SAILOR— WELLINGTON, THE SOLDIER 

with a French force under Marshal Grouchy in pursuit. 
Where were these two armies ? Both sides prayed that they 
would come ; Napoleon for Grouchy, Wellington for Blucher. 
The one that came first would decide the fate of the mighty 
battle. 

It was half-past four in the afternoon when, from the 
woods of St. Lambert at a distance, a column of troops came 
into view. All eyes were fixed on them with hope or fear. 
Who were they — Blucher and his Prussians, or Grouchy and 
his French ? It was not long before the armies knew. They 
were the Prussians. There were no signs of the French. 
Unless they came quickly, all was at an end for Napoleon. 

The French Emperor prayed for night or Grouchy — but 

night was too far off, and Grouchy came not. Napoleon was 

desperate. So far he had held back his 

Qrouch*'^ famous Imperial Guard, the flower of his army, 

now he sent them against his enemies, with 

the famous Marshal Ney at their head. 

Then came the most terrible moment of a terrible day. 
A torrent of flame poured on the Guard, and they fell in bleed- 
ing heaps. Soon, in a wild charge, the British Foot Guards 
rushed upon them, surrounded them, shot them down in 
winrows, and called on them to surrender. 

"The Guard dies, but never surrenders!" cried their 
brave leader, and they fought on until the last of them fell 
dead. 

That was the end. What was left of Napoleon's army 
turned and fled in a panic, taking their leader with them, 
Waterloo was the end of his career as a soldier ; the remain- 
der of his life was to be spent on the rocky island of St. 
Helena, as a captive. The sun of Napoleon had set," and Lord 
Wellington loomed up as the hero of Europe, the only man 
who had ever met Napoleon on equal terms and defeated him. 



CHAPTER VI. 



The Champion of Right and the Tribune 

of the People 




OU must be tired by this time of reading about 
fighting men, and be ready to hear something 
about other people. Of course we all get excited 
over the boom of the gun and the flash of the 
sword. When we hear of how men fought 
for their lives it makes our blood flow faster and our hearts 
beat louder. That is why the writers of history like to tell the 
story of war. They know how their readers are thrilled by the 
tale of battle and blood, and all "the pomp and circumstance 
of glorious war," as Shakespeare calls it. 

But men do not spend all their time in fighting. After 
a few years of war there come many years of peace, and it is 
in those years that the greatest things are done for the world. 
The business of war is to tear down, the busi- 

The Victories 

ness of peace is to build up, and the victories ^^ p^^^ 
of peace are greater and nobler than those of 
war. So I am sure you will be glad to hear about one of the 
great victors of peace, a man greater than Napoleon and 
Wellington, since all he did was for the good of mankind. 

The man I propose to speak of was a true son of the 
nineteenth century, for he was born in 1809 and died in 1898, 
so that he lived from near the beginning to almost the end of 
the century. No doubt many of you have heard his name, 
which was William Ewart Gladstone. It is one of the most 
famous names of the century. 

57 



58 THE CHAMPION OF RIGHT 

Gladstone was born in Liverpool, the greatest seaport of 
England. His father was a merchant in that city, and sent 
his son to the great English schools of Eton and Oxford, where 
he soon became noted for his eloquence. None of the other 
boys of the school could talk like young Gladstone. Before he 
left college he had won fame as an orator, and made a ^\'on- 
derful speech, which many came to hear. One of his hearers, 
a deacon in the church, said to a friend, " I have just heard 
the best speech I ever heard in my life." Another, who was a 
bishop, said : " One day that boy will be Prime Minister of 
England." He judged right ; that was what the boy got to be. 

In later years Gladstone became the greatest orator in 
England. He moved his hearers as a wind moves the trees. 
You have seen the boughs bending before a strong gale. That 
was the way the legislators of England bent before this young 
man's burning eloquence. His voice was full 
a on a ^^ ^.^^ music, and rolled through the halls of 

Parliament like the tones of an organ. He 
was all alive when he spoke ; words flowed from him in a 
flood ; and when he was excited they came from his lips like 
flame. By the magic of his voice and the powers of his mind 
he ruled England for years as few men had ever ruled it be- 
fore. Though he wore no crown he had the power of a king. 

But this was not the chief greatness of Gladstone. He 
was strong because he was always on the side of the right. 
Do you not think with me that the greatest man is the upright 
man — he who loves honor and truth and justice, who is brave 
in the battle against wrong, and who works not for his own 
good but for the good of mankind ? That was the kind of 
man we had in William Ewart Gladstone. No doubt he made 
mistakes. All men do that, even the best of them. But he 
always meant well, always strove for what he thought to be 
right ; and that is the great thing, after all. 



THE CHAMPION OF RIGHT 59 

Shall I tell you some of the things this noble man did? 
In 1857 he went to Naples, which was then the worst governed 
country in Europe. People called its ruler, King Bomba. I 
do not know what they meant by that, but he was a cruel 
tyrant, who put all the poor patriots he could find into prison 
and treated them in a brutal way. Gladstone was filled with 
horror when he was told of their sufferings, and wrote letters 
about them that seemed on fire with indignation. These let- 
ters stirred up all Europe and were of the greatest help to the 
people of Italy when they began to fight for freedom. 

This was not the only time that Gladstone came before 
the world as a great moral reformer. In 1876 the people of 
Bulgaria were terribly treated by the Turks. 

T T 1 J r ^1 J J Gladstone a 

Hundreds of them were murdered — men, q^^^i. Reformer 
women and little children — their homes were 
burned, their crops were destroyed, and those who had not 
been killed were left to starve to death. 

When Gladstone heard of this his whole soul was filled 
with anger and horror. He was an old man then, but he had 
the spirit of a young one, and he wrote a pamphlet on the 
" Bulgarian Horror " that rang through the land like the sound 
of a trumpet, and stirred up all the best feeling in the nation. 
He did more than this. Russia went to war with the Turks 
to punish them for their cruelty, and the government of Eng- 
land wanted to help them against Russia, as it had done in 
the Crimean War twenty years before. Gladstone stopped 
that national crime. He made fiery speeches, in Parliament 
and before great meetings in city and country, and dared the 
government to go to war to help the murderers. This one 
man's voice saved England from a shameful wrong. The 
people were behind Gladstone, and the government did not 
dare to act. You may see by this what one man can do when 
he is in arms for the right. 



6o THE CHAMPION OF RIGHT 

Though he loved peace, Gladstone was at war all his life. 
It was not the war of the b "dy, but the war of the mind. He 
fought for truth and justice, not on the field of battle, but in 
the halls of Parliament. He was like a Wellington against a 
Napoleon, or like our own Washington against the British 
General Howe, as you shall see. 

Gladstone became a member of Parliament in 1833, and 

about the same time another man, named Benjamin Disraeli, 

was elected to Parliament. These two men became the great 

leaders of England. They were on opposite sides, Disraeli at 

the head of the Conservative party, Gladstone 

as one in ^^ ^j^^ head of the Liberals, and behind each of 

Parliament ' 

them was a great army of followers in Parlia- 
ment and in the country. They were like two powerful 
generals in the field, and for the remainder of their lives they 
fought their battle for good or evil, and England followed 
the victor in the fray. 

Have any of my young readers ever read Milton's 
famous poem of " Paradise Lost," or that part of it which tells 
of the great battle in Heaven, where Christ led the army of 
good angels and Satan the army of evil spirits ? This is some- 
thing like the battle in the English Parliament. I do not wish 
to say that England is anything like Heaven, or that Glad- 
stone and Disraeli were like Christ and Satan. But what I 
do mean to say is that Gladstone always fought for the right 
and Disraeli often fought for the wrong. One of them led 
the army of light and the other the army of darkness, and 
the cause of good or of evil rose or fell as one or the other 
won in the great fight. 

I am not sure but ihis is too strong a way of speaking. 
But at least it may be said, that if there was a right and a wrong 
side of a question, you would always find Gladstone on the 
right, and usually find Disraeli on the wrong side. For an 



THE CHAMPION OF RIGHT 6i 

example, would you not say that the people have a right to 
vote ? I am sure, as Americans, you would. But at that 
time most of the people in England could not vote, and had 
no one to represent or act for them in Parliament. Gladstone 
did not approve of this. He said it was not just, and brought 
in a Reform bill that gave the right to vote to 400,000 more 
of the people. Disraeli took the other side and fought against 
Reform. He won, and Gladstone was beaten. 

But Gladstone looked beyond the present, and said to 
his enemies : ''You cannot fight against the future. Time is 
on our side. The great social forces are against you, and 
the banner which we carry in this fight, though it may droop 
over our sinking heads, will soon again float in 

,1 rTT juu Ji. The Conflict of 

the eyes 01 Heaven and be borne onward to ^^^ ^ . ^^.^ 
victory." He was right. The people rose and 
cried out for justice, and no one dared oppose them. The 
next year Disraeli himself was forced to bring in a Reform 
Bill which gave the people all that Gladstone had asked for. 
He passed the bill, but Gladstone got the glory. 

Another of the great battles of Gladstone was for the 
rights of Ireland. That island, you know, belongs to Eng- 
land. It is a part of the British kingdom. But for a long 
time the people have been very badly treated. I cannot tell 
you all the ways in which they had been robbed of their 
rights; but they were a poor, half-starved people, thousands of 
them were driven from their homes because they could not 
raise enough on their little farms to pay the rent, and millions 
of them had to go to America or other far-off countries for a 
chance to live. 

Gladstone fought for Ireland like a soldier of the Cross. 
He said the people of that country had a right to a Parlia- 
ment of their own, where they might make laws for them- 
selves. This is what is called Home Rule. He brought in 



62 THE CHAMPION OF RIGHT 

a bill for Home Rule in 1886, but it was defeated, and for a 
time things were worse in Ireland than before. 

But the "Grand Old Man," as people began to call 
Gladstone, waited. In 1892 he became Prime Minister again, 
for the fourth time in his life. He was now a very old man, 
but he was still strong for the right, and he made as noble 
speeches as ever he had done in his life. Triumph came to 
the good old soldier. The Home Rule Bill was passed. At 
the end of his life the people's champion had won his greatest 
victory. 

You must not think from this that Ireland won the right 

to rule itself The British Parliament, like our own Congress, 

is made up of two bodies ; the House of Commons, which is 

something like our House of Representatives ; 

P, ^. ' * and the House of Lords, which answers to our 

Parliament ' 

Senate, though its members are not voted for, 
but are born to their seats. It is made up of the lords of the 
nation. 

It was in the House of Commons that the Home Rule 
Bill was passed. It was defeated in the House of Lords. 
Gladstone did not live to bring it up again. He was so feeble 
that he had to leave Parliament, and in 1898 he died. His 
great opponent, Benjamin Disraeli, had died in 1881. Queen 
Victoria had made Disraeli an earl. She wanted to do the 
same to Gladstone, but he would not accept a title. He 
thought that his plain name was the highest title he could 
have. All Americans will agree with him in this, for we do 
not think much of titles, and we do think a great deal of a 
noble name. 

What more shall I tell you about Gladstone? Would 
you like to hear what Bishop Wilberforce said of him in 1868, 
when he was made Prime Minister for the first time ? He 
wrote: "Gladstone as ever great, earnest, and honest; as 



THE CHAMPION OF RIGH7 63 

unlike the tricky Disraeli as possible. He is so delightfully 
true and the same ; just as full of interest in every good thing 
of every kind." That will do for his epitaph. 

I might go on and speak of the brave and good men who 
helped Gladstone in his long career, but I can only give you 
the names of one or two of them. There was Richard Cob- 
den, who fought for years against the Corn Laws of England, 
which made food very dear to the people, and 
who was the father of Free Trade. Gladstone ,,^/! ..^'" 

Noble Men 

loved and admired this man. 

" I do not know," he said, " that there is in any period a 
man whose public career and life were nobler and more admi- 
rable. Of course, I except Washington. Washington, to 
my mind, is the purest figure in history." 

Is it not pleasant to find an Englishman saying this? 
We are so proud of Washington, that we feel happy to find 
the great men of other nations praising him. 

There was another noble figure, the great and good John 
Bright, who stood by Gladstone's side during the most of his 
life. He, too, was a famous orator. Men called him " the 
tribune of the people," for he was always on the people's side, 
always fighting for liberty and reform. He was a warm friend 
of Ireland, and no man could surpass him in his power of 
reaching the heart of the people by his noble eloquence. Like 
brothers were these great men, Gladstone and Bright ; they 
lived and worked for good together, and went to the grave 
not far apart. Is this enough to say about the "Tribune of 
the People?" No, indeed; John Bright played too great a 
part in the public life of England to be dealt with in these 
few words. 

John Bright was born in 181 1. two years after his noble 
friend and helper in the cause of reform. He came from a 
Quaker family, and was all his life a member of the Society 



64 THE CHAMPION OF RIGHT 

of Friends, and in all things a good and earnest man. There 
was no reform he did not advocate, and with a fine oratory 
which few could surpass. He was a bright and fluent speaker, 
and when any just cause was before the country no man could 
have worked more incessantly than he. He seemed born to 
influence and control people. 

The repeal of the Corn Laws was the first great public 

duty in which he took part. He was a warm friend of Richard 

Cobden, and worked by his side for years to win cheap bread 

for the people. His speeches in this cause were fervent and 

eloquent, and he richly deserved his title of the 

John Bright and ,, i ' 4. -u " 

^. ^ , " people s tribune. 

the Corn Laws ^ ^ 

This was only one of the many reforms for 
which he w^orked with all his heart and soul. He was a 
member of the Peace Society, and when the Crimean War 
broke out he opposed it warmly and eloquently. He looked 
on all war as shameful, and war in support of the Turks 
seemed to him a crime of the nation. When the Civil War 
came in the United States, the cause of the North was his 
cause, although it cut off the supply of cotton from the mills 
of England and cost him much money in his business as a 
cotton manufacturer. But the freedom of the slave was more 
to him than the filling of his purse. 

John Bright' s best and strongest work was done in 1866, 
in the great struggle to give the power of voting to the com- 
mon people. He was the warm supporter of Gladstone in this 
righteous cause, and made speeches which roused vast audi- 
ences to the highest enthusiasm. 

That was John Bright's last great labor, though he con- 
tinued to work for the cause of right and humanity till the end 
of his life. He sank to rest in March, 1889, ^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^f the 
greatest purity, honor, and warm devotion to the good of 
mankind. 



CHAPTER VII 

Garibaldi, the Hero of Italy 




F you look on the map of Europe and let your eye 
go down to the south of it, you will see a narrow 
stretch of land which runs far down into the 
Mediterranean Sea, and spreads out at its end 
like a great foot. It has been called "the boot," 
and it does look much like one ; you can easily make out the 
foot and the leg. This is the kingdom of Italy, one of the 
most famous countries that the history of old times tells us 
about. Near its centre you will notice the city of Rome, In 
ancient times this was the largest and most famous city in the 
world, and the capital of a vast empire that spread far over 
Europe, Asia and Africa. 

This was nearly two thousand years ago. Afterwards 
the mighty empire of Rome was torn to pieces, as you might 
tear up the map you have just been looking at, and the great 
city was plundered by wild barbarians, and Italy became like 
a dead animal that is fouefht for by savae^e 

.^ ^ & Italy Broken Up 

dogs. It was divided up into many separate 

kingdoms and dukedoms, and was long a battle-ground for 

Germany, France and Spain. Napoleon drove out its enemies 

for a time, but after his fall they came marching back, and 

long before the middle of the nineteenth century it was all 

broken up again, much of it being held by the empire of 

Austria. 

The people of Italy did not like this at all. I do not 
think any of you would have liked it if you had been born 



65 



66 GARIBALDI, THE HERO OF ITAL Y 

there. When they thought how great and glorious their coun- 
try had once been, it hurt them to see it cut up into little bits, 
as it were, and some of the best parts of it held by foreign 
rulers. They wanted their country free and they wanted it 
united. I am sure you will all feel for them, for the time was 
when our own country was not free and united, and there is 
nothing we are now prouder of than to have it a free and 
great Union. 

There were many brave patriots in Italy, and for years 
they kept stirring up the people against their oppressors. But 
they were put down again and again, and those who were 
taken prisoners were treated with great cruelty. At length 
there came the man who was to be the liberator of Italy, the 
brave Garibaldi, the greatest and noblest of the patriots of that 
ancient land. I am sure you will be glad to read the story 
of this famous soldier, who won liberty and unity for his 
native soil. 

Giuseppe Garibaldi was born in the city of Nice, a beau- 
tiful and delightful place on the shore of the Mediterranean. 
It was then a city of Italy, though it has since that time been 
given to France. Garibaldi's parents were 

Garibaldi as a j i c ^ r ,\ i 

^ .J ^ poor,ana as he was very lond of the sea he 

went out on a ship when he was a mere boy, 
and became quite a sailor before he was grown up. When he 
was twenty-five years old he joined the patriots who were 
fighting for the freedom of Italy. But they were defeated 
and he had to flee for his life. 

For fourteen years after that the brave young man wan- 
dered about the world seeking his fortune. First he went to 
Marseilles in France. There he found many of the people 
sick with cholera. The nurses had all fled in fear from the 
hospital, but like a true soldier he went there and nursed the 
sick. Then he went to Africa to find work for a soldier, and 



GARIBALDI, THE HERO OF ITALY 07 

after that to South America. Here there was plenty of fight- 
ing going on, and Garibaldi had enough of it to do. In 1848 
he came back to Italy. Fighting was going on there. The 
people had risen and seized the city of Rome, and a French 
army was marching to drive them out. Garibaldi joined them 
and helped them to fight against the French. 

Poor patriots ! There was a handful against an army. 
They had to flee for their lives, and were pursued wherever 
they went by the soldiers. If Garibaldi had been a wild beast 
he could not have been hunted more savagely. His poor wife, 
who had come with him from South America, could not bear 
the terrors and hardships of the flight, and she sank and died 
by his side. That was a sad wound to his heart, 
for he loved her dearly, and when he lost her he „f * f .' 

■^ ' Wanderings 

lost all he loved in the world, except his country. 

It was a good thing for Italy that the French and Aus- 
trians did not capture Garibaldi, for he was to do noble work 
for his country still. After many dangers he got safely out of 
the country and began his old life of wandering. This time 
he went to the United States. He had to make his living 
there, and he became a soap and candle maker on Staten 
Island, near the city of New York. This was not the kind of 
work to suit a man like Garibaldi, and the next we hear of 
him he was a sailor on the Pacific Ocean, seeking adventure 
in his old fashion. But he never forgot Italy. He knew all 
that was going on there, but ten years passed before he was 
ready to go back. 

In 1859 a war began between the French and the Aus- 
trians, and, as in Napoleon's time, some fierce battles were 
fought in Italy. As soon as he heard of this Garibaldi made 
haste home. He was given the rank of major-general and 
was told to raise a body of volunteers, so he went to his old 
friends, the mountaineers, and soon had a regiment of brave 



68 GARIBALDI, THE HERO OF ITAL Y 

and hardy men whom he called the " Hunters of the Alps.'* 
It was not the animals of the mountains but the Austrian sol- 
diers that these bold fellows hunted, and wherever they met 
these enemies of their country they won victories. You may 
be sure they did their part in driving the invaders from their 
native land. 

Everywhere the French and the Italians were successful 
and the Austrians were defeated. At last Italy was free from 
them, and I can tell you there was a lively time among the 
rulers of the little kingdoms whom the Austrian army had 
kept on their thrones. They had ill-treated the people, and 
now they ran away in a panic, for fear the people 
a y ree would scrve them the same way. A treaty was 

From Austria -^ -' 

made between the French and the Austrians 
which said that these small kings or grand dukes might come 
back if the people would permit. But the people said nay to 
that. They had seen all they wanted of them. So the little 
states were united to the large state of Sardinia, and that 
much was done for the unity of Italy. 

Do you think this was enough for Garibaldi ? I fancy 
not. Much of Italy was still in the hands of tyrants, and he 
would not be satisfied till it was free. In the south was the 
powerful kingdom of Naples and Sicily, which had long been 
governed by cruel tyrants, who had treated the patriots in the 
most shameful manner. But with all their cruelty and all their 
^ soldiers they could not put them down. Secret societies of 
patriots met in all parts of the country, and plots for freedom 
were made on all sides. Early in i860 some of the people 
in the cities of Messina and Palermo rose in rebellion, and 
fighting with the troops began. 

This gave Garibaldi the chance he was waiting for. As 
soon as he heard that the people were in arms he gathered a 
body of volunteers, about one thousand in all, and set sail for 



GARIBALDI, THE HERO OF ITAL V 69 

the island of Sicily. A thousand men was not much against 
the great army of the king of Naples, which was 150,000 
strong ; but Garibaldi knew that he would soon have help 
from the Sicilian patriots. As soon as he had landed and 
reached the mountains bold men, with rifles in their hands, 
flocked to his ranks. In three days he had 4,000 men. 
Then he sent word through the island that he had come to be 
the dictator of Sicily in the name of Victor Emanuel, the king 
of Sardinia. 

Soon the patriot army met the soldiers of Naples, fighting 
took place, and the patriots were victorious. The soldiers 
were stronger in numbers and better posted, but they could 
not hold out against men who were fighting for liberty. 
Onward marched Garibaldi, and as he advanced he lit 
beacon-fires on the hills, to warn the people that 
their defenders were coming". In a few days , Z, f ^^^ 

o -'of Palermo 

more he came within sight of the city of 
Palermo, the capital of the island. The people were waiting 
for him ; they had seen his signal fires on the hilltops. When 
he appeared before the gates of the town they rose in the 
streets, built barricades, and fought the troops. In a few 
hours half the city was in his hands. 

Before more could be done a strong army from Naples 
made its appearance, and began to bombard the city, pouring 
in shot and shell until it was nearly all in ruins. But Gari- 
baldi and his men held on. Shot and shell could not drive 
them out. At length the troops from Naples gave up the 
fight and left the ruined city in patriot hands. Garibaldi had 
held his own with 5000 men against an army of 25,000. That 
was a great thing to do, and when the king of Naples heard 
of it he was filled with fear. He knew that his people hated 
him and would be glad to help drive him from the throne, 

and in all haste he offered them a liberal government. He 

5 



70 GARIBALDI, THE HERO OF ITALY 

was "too late," the people said ; they knew him too well to 
trust him. 

Garibaldi lost no time. From Palermo he marched north 
against the large city of Messina, and in a week's time this, 
too, was in his hands. When the news spread over Europe 
everybody was astonished, and looked on Garibaldi as a great 
soldier. In six weeks' time, with a few thousand men, he had 
made himself master of the large island of Sicily. What 
would he do next ? men asked. They did not have long to 
wait. He crossed from the island to the mainland and was 
on the soil of Naples itself Now the tyrant on the throne 
had good cause to tremble. 

Into the land he marched with his handful of men, and 

everything gave way before him. The soldiers of the king 

were Italians, and most of them had no heart to fight against 

the man who had come to bring them liberty. 

Garibaldi in ^^- ■,.-, ^ .~^, 

Na les progress was like a parade. I here was no 

resistance. The soldiers seemed to melt away 
before him. Town after town opened its gates. His name 
acted like magic on the people. As he went towards the city 
of Naples the king, who trembled at his coming, took to 
flight, but of his large army only 4,000 men followed him 
from the city. The next day Garibaldi entered the capital 
of the kingdom, and the population welcomed him with 
shouts and cheers, and every show of gladness and delight 
They had waited long for liberty, and Garibaldi brought it 
to them. 

Victor Emmanuel, the King of Sardinia, knew well what 
Garibaldi was about. The great patriot was fighting for an 
united Italy, and he was to be its king. He had to keep secret, 
for all Europe was watching him with jealous eyes, but now 
that Garibaldi was master of the city of Naples he thought it 
time to act. So a Sardinian army made its way south with the 



GARIBALDI, THE HERO OF ITALY 71 

king at its head, and entered the kingdom of Naples, march- 
ing towards the capital. 

As it came near Garibaldi rode out at the head of his 
faithful followers, and met Victor Emmanuel, greeting him 
with the proud title of ** King of Italy." 

The king demanded that he should surrender to him the 
power he had gained. 

" Sire, I obey," said the noble patriot, and he rode beside 
the king into the city of Naples, which he delivered into his 
hands. In four months he had done more for the freedom 
and union of Italy than had been done for many years. 

Garibaldi had accomplished all he set out to do. He left 
the rest of the work in the hands of the king, and went to his 
home in the little island of Caprera, content now to watch 
events. Francis, the King of Naples, had still victor Emman= 
an army around him, and more fighting had to uei, King of 
be done. But in three months more the war '^'^ 
was at an end, and Victor Emmanuel was King of all Italy, 
except what were known as the States of the Church, which 
were ruled over by the Pope, and Venice, which the Austrians 
still held. 

The patriots were not satisfied. They had much ; they 
wanted all. They had Naples ; they wanted Rome and Venice. 
They waited for the king to act, but he did nothing. The 
French, who had driven Garibaldi and his fellow patriots out of 
Rome many years before, were still there, and the king did not 
want to do anything that might bring on a war with France. 

There are two ways to win in the game of politics. One 
way is by the sword, the other is by the tongue — by what 
is called diplomacy. Vv^ar may be the shortest way, but 
diplomacy is the safest and cheapest, so Victor Emmanuel 
would not let Garibaldi fight, for he had hopes to win without 
fighting. 



72 GARIBALDI, THE HERO OF ITALY 

What he did was to get the French emperor to withdraw 
his troops from Rome, where he never had any right to put 
them. They were taken away in 1866, and only the troops 
of the Pope were left. Yet still the king did not move. The 
patriots were impatient. Rome, they said, had of old been 
the capital of Italy, and they would never be satisfied until it 
was the capital again. They said that it must 
^ ^"'f'.^ ? ^'^ and should be theirs. They called on their old 

tal of Italy -^ 

hero. Garibaldi, to lead them again. He was 
ready. He marched on Rome with a party of volunteers, but 
he was not in Naples now, the people did not rise to help 
him, and his small force was soon defeated by the troops of 
the Pope. He was taken prisoner, and the French soldiers 
were sent back to Italy. 

But the end was near. Garibaldi had not given his life- 
work in vain. In 1866 the Austrians gave up Venice, and it 
became part of the kingdom of Italy.* In 1870, when the 
French began to fight with the Germans, their soldiers were 
withdrawn. Now was Victor Emmanuel's chance. He had 
no fear now of trouble with France. The Pope was asked to 
give up the government of Rome and the States of the Church. 
He refused, and the king sent an army against him. For 
three hours the cannon of the king thundered against the 
ancient walls of Rome, and then the city was given up and 
Victor Emmanuel marched in. 

For the first time since ancient days all Italy was united 
into one kingdom, under one king, and the city of Rome was 
the capital of the nation. And I think you will say that no 
man had done more in bringing about the union of Italy than 
the noble old hero, Guiseppe Garibaldi. 




THE BOMBARDMENT °r'';:"''Z°^>l!^'' """T' 'ST^S'^'^'ST" 



CHAPTER VIII 



Russia, the Colossus of the East 




HREE countries of the world had a wonderful 
growth during the nineteenth century. Can you 
tell me what countries these were, or shall I 
have to tell you ? If you have read this book 
carefully I am sure you can give me the names 
of two of them, at least. One of these is the United States, 
which has spread so widely over the continent of North 
America. The other is England, whose colonies may be 
found in all parts of the world. I fancy many of you can 
give me the name of the third. For those who cannot I will 
say that it is Russia, the great country of Eastern Europe. 

Russia was a very large country in the year 1800, for it 
covered more than half of all Europe. It included also the 
vast country of Siberia, in the north of Asia, which is larger 
than all Europe. Even then Russia was the 
largest country on the face of the globe. Since 
that time it has taken in all of Central Asia, and a large slice 
of the north of China, and, like a hungry boy at the table, 
it keeps reaching out for more. It covers now one-sixth of 
all the land surface of the earth. No doubt, it would like to 
get hold of the other five-sixths ; but they are not for sale. 

Russia is big, but it is not great. There is a difference, 
you know, between being big and great. An ox is big, but 
a man is great. Russia has many millions of people, but 
they are ignorant and not much better in their habits and 

73 



Russia in 1800 



74 RUSSIA, THE COLOSSUS OF THE EAST 

customs than barbarians, and they hardly know what the 
word freedom means. One man's word there makes the law 
for over 120,000,000 persons. If it was that way with us we 
would call ourselves slaves. This is one reason why Russia 
is only big. A people without liberty and education can 
never be great. 

Russia is not a very nice place to live in to-day, but it is 
better than it formerly was. At one time nearly all the farm- 
ing people were actual slaves, for they had to stay on the land 
and to work for the lords, whether they wished to or not. 
Where a man was born there he must live and die ; he could 
be cruelly punished if he tried to leave. I am 
Treats its Peo 1 R^^*^ ^^ ^ay that all these slaves were set free 
about the same time that the slaves in our own 
country were made freemen. The nineteenth century has 
done a great deal for human liberty, for it has brought free- 
dom to all the slaves in Europe and America. 

There is another thing to say about Russia which is not 
very pleasant. Those who offended the czar or his officers in 
any way were not locked up in jail, but were sent away to the 
frozen country of Siberia, w^here they had to work in the 
mines and were treated very cruelly, so that many of them 
died. It was not only thieves and murderers that were sent 
to this dreadful country, but all those who wished Russia to 
be free and have a government like the other countries of 
Europe were dealt with in the same heartless manner. It was 
a cruel system, but it is not so hard now, for the Russians are 
getting a little ashamed of it, and do not like to be called 
barbarians by the people of enlightened nations. 

I have called Russia " the Colossus of the East." A 
Colossus, you should know, means something very large — a 
giant among men or animals or nations. By the " East" we 
usually mean Asia. Russia covers not only most of the east 



RUSSIA, THE COLOSSUS OF THE EAST 75 

of Europe, but it extends far over Asia, so that it belongs to 
the East. 

I must tell you something of the history of Asia in the 
nineteenth century, and show you how it has got to be more 
of a Colossus than ever. All through the century Russia has 
played what some of you would call a "grab game." It has 
taken all the land it could lay hold of, and it is not satisfied 
yet ; it is all the time wanting more. 

South of Russia lies the country of Turkey, which is in 
one way like Russia, for its people are ignorant and its ruler 
is absolute. That is, he can make what laws he pleases and 
he can be as much of a tyrant as he cares to. Turkey is not 
a Christian country. Its people are Moslems, or believers in 
the religion of Mohammed. But many Christians live there 
and they have often been treated with great 
cruelty, for the Moslems hate all religions but .^ Turkey 
their own. This treatment of the Christians 
has caused the Russians to go to war with the Turks a 
number of times. It may be that this is only an excuse, and 
that all that Russia wants is to add Turkey to its great 
empire. At any rate the other nations of Europe think so, 
and they have done all they could to keep the big country 
from swallowing the little one. 

In 1828 Russia made war on Turkey and forced it to 
give more liberty to the Christians. The little kingdom of 
Greece obtained its freedom, and several provinces got what 
we call home rule. But Russia won nothing for itself, for the 
other nations stood around like so many bulldogs and made 
her keep her hands off. 

Another war began in 1853. This time France and Eng- 
land came to the help of the Turks and there was fierce fight- 
ing in the Crimea, a peninsula which stretches down into the 
Black Sea. This became known as the Crimean War. The 



76 RUSSIA, THE COLOSSUS OF THE EAS7 

Russians had in the Crimea a large and strong city named 
Sebastopol, in whose harbor was a powerful fleet. For months 
and months this city was bombarded, and thousands of cannon 
balls were thrown into it. At length, one day in vSeptember, 
1855, the French and English made a desperate attack on its 
strongest forts. The English were driven back, but the 
French won their fort, and the Russians were forced to leave 
the town. That ended the war. Russia had lost all she iought 
for and the Turks felt proud of their success. 

But the Czar of Russia was soon to have another chance, 
for the Turks began to ill-treat the Christians again. The tax- 
gatherers took nearly everything the people had, acting like 
so many hungry wolves. This caused the brave mountaineers 
of Bosnia to rebel, and it seemed as if all the Christians might 
join them and fight for liberty. To stop this 

The Massacre .101^. r-ri ^i- 

. g J ^.^ the bultan 01 i urkey sent his savage troops 

into Bulgaria, one of the Christian provinces, 
telling them to kill everybody they met. They were very 
ready to obey orders of this kind, and before they got through 
thousands of men, women and children were cut down with 
their swords. Dead bodies lay everywhere and the ground 
was red with blood. 

When the news of this terrible slaughter spread over 
Europe the people were filled with horror. Not only men and 
women, but boys and girls like yourselves, thought that the 
savage Turks ought to be swept off the earth. Russia declared 
war and sent an army to punish the sultan for his cruelty. 
This time England and France did not come to his aid, for 
the great and good Gladstone wrote a pamphlet on the *' Bul- 
garian Horrors" which told such a terrible story that the Eng- 
glish people were furious against the Turks. 

On went the Russian soldiers, over the rugged Balkan 
mountains, and down to the very gates of Constantinople, the 



RUSSIA, THE COLOSSUS OF THE EAST 77 

capital of Turkey. The Turks fought hard, but they were 
driven back, and this time it looked as if Russia would win 
what it had so long fought for, and the empire of Turkey 
would come to an end. 

But the other powers of Europe were as determined as 
ever that Russia should not have Turkey. They were afraid 
lest that great country should grow strong enough to conquer 
all the rest of Europe. England told Russia to stop, and 
hinted, that if she did not, an army would be 

.,11 . u T- 1 T^u J • J 4- 4- Russia and the 

sent to help the 1 urks. 1 he czar did not want „ 

\ Powers 

another Crimean War, so he drew back and let 
the powers help make the treaty of peace. Thus it was that 
Russia got very little for her victories ; but Turkey lost nearly 
all her Christian provinces, which were taken from her and 
made free kingdoms. 

Very likely the time will come when Russia will win 
Constantinople, which she has tried so often to gain. But she 
did not win it in the nineteenth century, for at the end of that 
century it was still the capital of the Turkish empire, as it had 
been for many centuries before. 

If you look back over what you have just read, you will 
see that Russia got hardly a slice of land from Turkey during 
the century, in spite of all her efforts. But if we take a look 
at Asia we shall find a very different state of affairs. In that 
great continent Russia has been going ahead at a rapid rate. 
She has run through the continent like a huge railroad 
engine, smashing everything that came in her way. 

The vast region of Siberia was conquered two centuries 
before, but in 1858 Russia took possession of that part of 
Siberia lying along the great Amur River. This belonged to 
China, but the czar did not take the trouble to ask the Chinese 
emperor for it, and paid no attention to his complaints. About 
the same time the Russians went to war with the brave moun- 



78 RUSSIA, THE COLOSSUS OF THE EAST 

taineers of the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black and 
the Caspian Seas. Here was a hero named vSchamyl, a brave 
and daring man, who fought against them for years. But they 
were too strong. Schamyl was beaten, and the Caucasus 
became part of Russia. 

South of Siberia Hes a great region inhabited by wander- 
ing shepherds and herdsmen, who have great flocks of sheep 
and herds of cattle and horses. It is called the Steppe and is 
almost a desert. South of that again is the broad region 
known as Turkestan or Central Asia, part of which is a sandy 
desert and part is made up of fertile oases, or islands of soil 
in the sand. This country was inhabited by 
e eppe an j-j-^jj^,^ q{ fierce and daring" horsemen, w^ho liked 

Turkestan o 

war better than peace, and treated their prisoners 
in a very savage manner. These were the next countries 
which Russia conquered. The soldiers of the czar began to 
fight the Turkomans in 1864, and in 1881 the last fight took 
place. The whole country was won and has been part of 
Russia since that date. 

One good thing has come from this war. The Russians 
are not highly civilized, but the Turkomans were fierce bar- 
barians, whose chief delight was in robbery and bloodshed. 
Russia has stopped all this. The Turkomans have been made 
to go to work and to live by honest labor instead of by theft. 
And a railroad has been built across their country, and has 
brought the blessings of commerce to a region that once lived 
by rapine and war. 

Russia in Europe covers an area of about 2,000,000 
square miles. In Asia it has an area of over 6,500,000 square 
miles. The whole empire is nearly as large as the continent 
of North America. That, you might think, ought to be 
enough territory for one man to rule over. But it is not ; the 
czar and his people want more. 




CHAPTER IX 

Louis Napoleon and His Empire 

APOLEON the Conqueror brought no end of 
misery to France. But he brought no end of 
glory, also. And the time came when people 
forgot the misery and thought only of the glory. 
What if millions of people had died and millions 
of homes had been made desolate ! That was past and gone, 
and it was only remembered that he had made France the 
lord and master of Europe. So instead of calling him Napo- 
leon the Monster, as many had done, they called him Napo- 
leon the Great. That is a weakness which most of us have. 
We do not admire the man Avho robs and murders in a small 
way, but we are too apt to worship the man who robs and 
murders in a large way. I hope all my readers, when they 
think of war, will think of both things that it brings, the 
misery as well as the glory. 

Do you ask how we know that the F^rench made so great 
a hero of Napoleon ? We know it in many ways, and one of 
the w^ays is this. When another Napoleon came before the 
people for their votes they went wild over him. 
And even when he overturned the Q:overnment , .^^^ ^^" 

^ Little 

and made himself an emperor, the people of 
France quietly let him do so, and voted for him again by an 
immense vote. I doubt if they would have done so if it had 
not been for his name. 

This Napoleon was not a great man. He has often been 
called Napoleon the Little. But he bore a famous name and 

79 



8o LOUIS NAPOLEON AND HIS EMPIRE 

was a nephew of the mighty conqueror, and that was enough 
for the people of France, who have always loved glory more 
than they loved liberty. As I have told you the story of 
Napoleon the Great, I shall tell that of Napoleon the Little. 

His full name was Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. 
But this was too long a name for common use, so he was 
known as Louis Napoleon. He was a son of Louis Bona- 
parte, a brother of the great Napoleon. His father had once 
been king of Holland, and he wanted badly to be king or 
emperor of France. He got to be, too. 

Just here I must say something about the history of 

France after the battle of Waterloo. While Napoleon was 

kept by the English on the far-off island of St. Helena, like a 

war-eagle chained to a rock, one of the old family of kings 

rei«:ned over France. They called him Louis 

Two Old Kings ^ ■' 

XVIII. He was a good-natured old soul, who 
only asked for a quiet life, and the people were well satisfied 
with him. But he died, and his brother became king, as 
Charles X. 

This Charles was a tyrant, or wanted to be. He was a 
fool, also, as many tyrants are. He tried to take away liberty 
and free speech from the people. I . fancy he did not know 
very well what he was about. The French people had no 
room for tyrants. They had seen enough of them in the past. 
So as soon as the new laws that were to rob them of their 
liberty were made public all Paris was up in arms. Mobs 
paraded the streets. There was fighting with the soldiers 
and men were killed. The king saw that he had made a 
blunder and tried to draw back by repealing the new laws. 
It was too late. The people had enough of him. He did not 
know but that they might cut off his head as they had cut off 
the head of Louis XVI., his brother. So he hurried away 
from France as fast as his trembling old legs would carry him. 




BATTLE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND THE ZULUS, SOUTH AFRICA ^ ^^ ^ 

Of all the natives encountered by the British in AMca, there were none n.oreb^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

hesitate with spear and shield to charge aga.nst the death-deahng rifles of thejl«^^^ J ^ 

valiant blacks, was a man who would have been a hero in ':'\"'^f^° T^", ' •- ; di„„itv of 
in London streets he compelled the respect of his «"^X -n^^ Jtive land 
his bearing, and won the right to return and die in his native lana. 



LOUIS NAPOLEON AND HIS EMPIRE 8i 

The people did not make a republic as they might have 
done, but they put a new king on the throne. His name was 
Louis Philippe. He was of the old royal family, but he and 
his father had taken part in the French Revolution, and it 
was thought that a man who had fought for the liberty of 
France could be trusted to take care of that liberty. 

If you knew much about kings, you would know that, 
while many of them are proud, not many of them are wise. 
They have plenty of tine jewels and rich and showy clothing, 
but good sense is a better thing than good clothes, and that 
they do not often have. Louis Philippe wa^ not a bad sort 
of a man, but he did foolish things which made the people 
angry, and the time came when they got tired 
of him. He was made kinsf in 18^0, and the ^. *^"o.o " 

o --> ' t!on of 1848 

people put up with him for eighteen years. 
Then, one fine day in the year 1848, a great mob filled the 
streets of Paris, as had often been the case before, and the 
king was told that he was not wanted any longer. So off 
went King Louis, post-haste, for England, as King Charles 
had done before him. The kings of France had got to be 
very much afraid of the Paris mob. 

What was to be done now ? Here was the great French 
nation once more without a head. In the past fifty years the 
people of France had been ruled over by the emperor Napo- 
leon, by two kings of the old royal family, and by one king 
of the Revolution. None of these quite suited them, and they 
had grown tired of kings. They thought they would like to rule 
themselves, as the people of the United States did ; that is, 
they decided to have a republic, with a president at its head. 

Louis Napoleon was then in England. He had long 
wanted to be a king, and he had twice come over to France 
to ask the people to have him instead of Louis Philippe. 
Very likely he thought they would run after him, as they had 



82 LOUIS NAPOLEON AND HIS EMPIRE 

after his uncle when he came back from Elba, but instead of 
that the people kept quiet, and he was taken prisoner and sent 
to jail for life. He managed somehow to get out of prison 
and to get back to England, and there he waited till he heard 
that the French had set their king adrift and were in the 
market for a president. Then he came back as fast as wind 
and sails could carry him. He wanted to be something. If 
he could not be king he was willing to be president. 

No one thought of sending him to prison this time. He 
was a Bonaparte, and France was fond of that name ; so he 
was most welcome. He was elected to the French Congress, 
and soon offered himself for President. Now the magic of 
Louis Napoleon ^^^^ name came to his help. There were better 
Elected Presi- and wiser men in France, plenty of them, but 
**^"* they were not Bonapartes, and when the elec- 

tion came off he received more than five and a half millions 
of votes, while General Cavaignac, the other candidate, 
received only one and a half millions. So Louis Napoleon 
was made president for four years. 

It is a good thing to buy a dove, but it is a bad thing to 
buy a hawk. You can trust your dove, but you cannot trust 
your hawk. The French people had bought a hawk when 
they chose Louis Napoleon for president. Perhaps I had bet- 
ter say they had bought a vulture. At any rate, they were 
quickly to learn that they had made a grand mistake. 

The new president soon showed that he was ambitious. 
He began to fight with the Assembly — the Congress of France 
— and to do things which he had no right to, under the laws. 
But that did not satisfy him. Fie remembered that his uncle. 
Napoleon Bonaparte, had made himself Emperor, and he 
wanted to do the same thing. It was a dangerous business, 
but a man who wants to steal a government has got to run 
some risk. 



LOUIS NAPOLEON AND HIS EMPIRE 83 

What he did was to get the army on his side, for he knew 
that he might need to use force to accompHsh his purposes. 
He tried to get on the right side of the people, also, by pre- 
tending to be their friend, and making them believe that the 
Assembly was against them. When he had worked in this 
way for a year or two he was ready to make another move. 

The 2d of December was a day that jiieant much to the 
French. On that day, in 1804, the first Napoleon had been 
crowned emperor, and on that same day in 1805 he had won 
the great victory of Austerlitz. Louis Napoleon chose that 
day in 1851 to play the traitor to his country. He had his 
soldi«rs ready, and suddenly sent them to seize 
all the members of the Assembly whom he was ^ ■ '^ ^^^ ^ 

J a Crime 

afraid of, and lock them up in prison. Then, 
when the people rose in the streets to defend their liberties, 
he made his soldiers fire on them and shoot them down in 
heaps. The liberty of France went out that day in blood- 
shed and murder. 

Victor Hugo, the great French author, has told all about 
this in a book, which he called "The History of a Crime." 
That was a good name for it, for murder is the worst of 
crimes. Suppose one of our presidents should try the same 
thing, what would we call it ? We would want some stronger 
word than crime. 

I have told you how Louis Napoleon tried to get on the 
right side of the people. But he was afraid to ask them to 
make him emperor till he had given them more time to think 
about it. vSo he offered them a new constitution which made 
him president for ten years and gave him as much power as 
a king. He was a Bonaparte, "the nephew of his uncle" ; 
he had done some good things for the people. This was 
enough ; they gave the new constitution a majority of more 
than seven million votes. 



84 LOUIS NAPOLEON AND HIS EMPIRE 

The new president-king let another year pass by, in 
which he pretended to be very noble and generous and pious 
and a good friend of the people, doing all he could in the way 
of public works. Then he asked them to vote for him as 
emperor. They did as he wished. If one can believe the 
returns nearly eight million people voted for him. I doubt 
if we can quite believe those returns. If you have read much 
about politics you must know what election returns often 
mean in our large cities. They mean a little truth and a good 
deal of fraud and falsehood. People said that the vote for 
Louis Napoleon was a lie of the largest size. But who was 
to call it in question ? He had the arn>y on 

A New Emperor i • -i i •, u j i ^.i i 

. ^ his side, and it was remembered how the people 

in France ' i r 

had been shot down in Paris. It was safest to 
throw their hats in the air and hurrah for the Emperor Napo- 
leon III. He called himself Napoleon the Third, for the first 
Napoleon had a son whom people called Napoleon the Sec- 
ond, though he never came to the throne. 

Now that Louis Napoleon was emperor, what did he do? 
Well, not much to boast of. He put on royal airs, and wore 
showy clothes, and strutted about in a kingly fashion, and 
told the Assembly what laws he wanted them to pass, and 
thought himself of very great importance indeed ; but I do 
not believe he was any happier than he had been as president, 
and who knows but the ghosts of those he had murdered to 
make himself emperor came to haunt him at night ? 

The monarchs of Europe were a little scared. They did 
not forget the trouble they had had with Napoleon I., and the 
very name of Napoleon was enough to frighten them. But 
the new emperor said "the Empire is peace," and he kept 
quiet so long that they began to believe him. He spent much 
of his time in trying to make Paris finer. He had new streets 
laid out and bridges built and splendid buildings put up, and 



LOUIS NAPOLEON AND HIS EMPIRE 85 

he opened a great World's Fair, the finest that had been seen 
up to that time. And he did all he could to help trade and 
industry in France, and make the people happy and pros- 
perous ; so that they began to forget that he had stolen the 
throne, and to think him a very fair sort of king. 

" The Empire is peace " is a pretty motto, but it did not 
wear well. The Empire of Napoleon III. was founded on the 
army. The soldiers had put him on the throne and kept him 
there, and he was obliged to think of the army as well as the 
people. Now the motto of an army is, '* The Empire is War." 
Soldiers and officers want to win glory in battle; and very 
likely many of the people began to think that a_ 
Napoleon who did no fighting was not of much ^^^ "^^' 
account. They remembered that his uncle did 
hardly anything else than fight. I think the new emperor 
himself wanted a little of that sort of glory that comes from 
war. Victory on the battle-field seems to give a man so 
much more importance, and he was a little jealous of the 
fame of his uncle. 

At any rate he gave his soldiers all the fighting he could 
find for them. Before he got to be emperor he sent a number 
of them to Rome and kept them there for years, where they 
helped to keep the people of Italy from winning their liberty. 
Then in 1854 he sent a large army to Turkey, where they 
aided the English and the Turks in the Crimean War. They 
won some glory there, for it was they who took the fort at 
Sebastopol when the English were driven back, and who 
forced the Russians to give up that strong city. 

But all this did not satisfy the emperor. He could not 
forget that his warlike uncle had led his own armies to vic- 
tory, and that his first battles had been in Italy against the 
Austrians. There was a fine chance for him to try and win 
•glory for himself, for the Austrians were again in Italy and 



86 LOUIS NAPOLEON AND ///S EMPIRE 

were making trouble there. They held the rich kingdom of 
Lombardy, and in 1859 they went to war with Sardinia and 
hoped to get that too. At once Napoleon sent an army into 
Italy to help the king of Sardinia, and it was not long before 
he was there himself. He had an " order of the day" read to 
them, in which he told them of what their fathers had done in 
Italy under the great Napoleon, and asked them to do as 
well for him. This filled the army with pride and courage. 

I do not intend to tell you all about the war. But I must 
say that Louis Napoleon did not show himself much of a sol- 
dier. He made more military blunders in a week than his 
uncle had made in all his life. But, by good luck for him, 
the Austrians made worse blunders still, and so 
agen a an j^^ \\ow the p^rcat battle of Mag^enta. Not Ions: 

afterwards the two armies came together again 
and the French won another great victory, known as Sol- 
ferino. That was enough for Austria. Peace was made and 
Lombardy was given up to Italy. 

Many people blamed Napoleon for giving up the war so 
soon. But he knew what he was about. He had sense enough 
to know that he was not made for a general, and that he had 
better keep the glory he had won and not risk it all by trying 
to win more. So he came home feeling very grand, while 
the French people looked upon him as a great conqueror. 
Nobody called him Napoleon the Little just then. 

It seemed as if his success in Italy had put false notions 
into Napoleon's head, for he began to look about him for some 
other place where his soldiers could win fame for France. 
He found a very bad place, as it turned out. The people of 
the United States were at that time busy with their great Civil 
War, and he thought this would be a good time to meddle in 
American affairs. So he stirred up some sort of a quarrel 
with Mexico, and sent an army there. This very soon defeated 



LOUIS NAPOLEON AND HIS EMPIRE 87 

the Mexican soldiers, and the government was overturned 
and an empire formed. A member of the royal family of Aus- 
tria, named Maximilian, was sent out to act as emperor, and 
once more Napoleon III. felt grand. 

But he had made a great blunder. He knew all about 
the "Monroe Doctrine" of the United States Government, 
which says very plainly that this country will not let any of 
the nations of Europe take possession of any part of America, 
and tells them plainly to keep out. He fancied, however, that 
the United States was going to be broken to 

1 1 1 1 r i 1 The French in 

pieces and would be ot no account any longer, jyiexico 
That is the big mistake he made. 

The people of this country went on fighting till their war 
was over, and then they told Napoleon to take his army out 
of Mexico very quick or he would find himself in trouble. He 
obeyed orders ; he knew he had to get out or get whipped. 
As soon as they were gone the people of Mexico went to war 
with Maximilian, took him prisoner, and shot him. That was 
the end of the empire which Louis Napoleon founded in Mex- 
ico, and since then the nations of Europe have let America 
alone. They do not care to wake up the great watch-dog of 
the American continent. 

The next thing Napoleon did was a greater mistake still. 
He grew so proud of his army that he fancied it could fight 
any nation in Europe, so he picked a quarrel with the king of 
Prussia, and went to war with him. I shall not tell you about 
this war here. I must hold it back for a chapter further on. 
All I need say at this place is, that the French emperor soon 
found that he had made a fatal mistake, and that his army 
was no match for that of King William of Prussia. He was 
beaten in every battle, his armies were captured, his cities 
were taken, and he was made a prisoner of war, which ended 
his career. 



CHAPTER X 



England and Her CoJonies 




HE people of England used to make the proud 
boast that " Britannia rules the waves ! " They 
quit saying so after the War of 1812, when the 
few American ships made such havoc in the great 
British fleet. They saw that another nation had 
come which had something to say about who should rule 
the waves. 

Other British sayings are that the morning gun of Eng- 
land is heard round the world, and that the sun never sets 
upon English soil. What is said about the morning gun is 
poetry, but what is said about the sun is truth. For the colo- 
nies of Great Britain stretch so far around the earth that when 
it is night over some of them the sun is shining on others. 
To-day, the greatness of England is largely due to her colo- 
nies ; so it seems well that you should know 
pan o es somcthinp" about them. The history of colonies 

Her Colonies o -^ 

in the nineteenth century is a very interesting 
one. When that century began Spain had the greatest colo- 
nies on the earth. It held nearly all of South America except 
Brazil, and all of North America except the United States 
and Canada. And it held two-thirds of what is now the 
United States. At the end of thf^ century it had lost all this 
great dominion, and all its islands in the East and West 
Indies. Portugal had lost the great empire of Brazil. 

Now let us go back to England and her colonies. You 
know how she once owned the country which is now the 




*l i'O' 



KING EDWARD VII TAKING THE OATH 



ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES 89 

United States, and how she lost it by trying to oppress its 
people. But you may not know that this is the only colony 
England ever lost. She was taught a lesson by the brave 
soldiers of the American Revolution which she did not forget, 
and she never afterwards tried to act the tyrant to her colonies. 
England does not want any more Revolutions, so she is wise 
enough to let the people of her colonies govern themselves. 

One of the greatest of the English colonies is the next- 
door neighbor of the United States, the great country we call 
Canada. There are people who think that Canada ought to 
belong to the United States, and armies were sent there 
during the Revolution and the War of 181 2. 
But they did not succeed, and Canada still be- ^ ^ ^^^ ^^ 

J ' Canada 

longs to Great Britain. It does not object to 
belong to that country ; it is rather proud of it than otherwise, 
for the Canadians are very loyal to their mother-country ; in 
the South African war, some of the best and bravest soldiers 
who fought the Boers came from the great colony of Canada. 

I cannot say, indeed, that all the people of that coun- 
try love England. You must remember that Canada once 
belonged to France, and that many of its people have come 
down from the old French colonists. These have never for- 
gotten that France is their mother-land, and many of them 
do not love England enough even to learn its language, so 
that in parts of Canada you might think you were in France. 

Have you any idea how large a country. Canada is ? You 
would hardly think that it is larger than the United States, 
yet such is the fact. Larger in square miles, I mean, for, 
though it was settled before the United States, it has only 
about 5,000,000 people. Why is this ? Well, there is one 
word for it — cold. Much of Canada is a very cold country, 
the greater part of it being so chilly and frozen that only wild 
Indians and daring fur-hunters care to live in it. To be sure, 



90 ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES 

there is one part of that cold region where many people live 
and where a large city has sprung up. This is along the Klon- 
dike River, w^here gold was found a few years ago. When 
gold is to be had, people do not stop to think of cold or any 
other evil. But when the yellow metal is all dug up they will 
fly away, like birds, to w^armer climes. 

But further south and along the Great Lakes Canada is 
full of people, hardy, industrious, energetic men and women, 
as pushing and enterprising as the people of the United States. 
It is a great farming country, and fine crops of w^heat and 
other grains are raised. Then the woods are full of splendid 
timber, and the w^aters are crowded with fine 
ana a ^^-^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ \mq[\ say that Canada has a 

great future before it. Though it is a colony 
of Great Britain, it is almost as free as the United States. 
It has its own government and makes its own law^s, and 
England's idea of governing Canada is to let it alone. 
The people there w^ould not bear oppression for a day, and 
the governing powers in England know that very well. 

Another important colony of England is the immense 
island of Australia, which is three-fourths as large as all 
Europe. For a long time England kept this island as a place 
to send its convicts to, and its people were made up of crimi- 
nals of many kinds. But in 1851 gold was found there, three 
years after it was found in California. If you ask your fathers, 
they can tell you how excited the people were when they heard 
that the yellow metal w^as in California for any one to dig up, 
and how they hurried there in thousands. They rushed to 
Australia in the same way, and were soon digging away like 
madmen, and talking about nothing else but gold dust and 
cradles and washers. 

There is one thing about Australia which I trust you will 
like to hear. England got that great island without fighting. 



ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES 91 

and it is the only colony she ever got in that way. The 
Australians were low savages who dwelt in the desert where 
white men could not live, so in that country there has never 
been a war. It is the only large country on the earth of 
which that can be said. 

I cannot say that of New Zealand, a fine country which 
is south of Australia, and which England has held as a colony 
since 1840. This is a group of much smaller islands, which 
were inhabited by a far braver people, the 
Maoris, who fought for their homes as fiercely ^^^,^15 
as the Indians did in America. War went 
on there for about twenty-five years. At the end of that time 
there were not many Maoris left to fight, and since 1870 the 
English there have been at peace. 

Gold had a good deal to do with the peopling of Australia. 
But gold was not all, for great flocks of sheep were raised, 
and there were other valuable products. These have taken so 
many people to Australia that it has now more than 3,000,000 
inhabitants and several large cities. There are more than 
300,000 people in Melbourne and 250,000 in Sydney. 

Now we must take a look at the greatest of the English 
colonies, India or Hindustan, one of the southern peninsulas of 
Asia extending into the Indian Ocean. It is a very rich and 
fertile country, and has the greatest population of any country 
on the globe except China, its people numbering nearly 
300,000,000. Just think of that vast multitude of human 
beings, and then look at the little speck of land known as 
England, and try to fancy this little country governing that 
great one. It is like a dwarf governing a giant ! But the 
people of England have far more energy and spirit than the 
people of India, and they know far more about the arts of 
war and of government ; so step by step they have conquered 
all India and rule it as their own. 



92 ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES 

This began about one hundred and fifty years ago, when 
a brave EngHshman named Robert Clive, with about looo 
British soldiers, defeated about 70,000 of the natives. Then, 
near the opening of the nineteenth century, the Marquis of 
Wellesley — who afterwards became Lord WelHngton and 
won the battle of Waterloo — gained many victories in India, 
and the British powder spread wider and wider. All through 
the nineteenth century the British kept up the struggle, now 
winning one victory, now another, until nearly all the Indian 
rulers had to submit to them. But they did not do this with- 
out much hard fighting and some dreadful scenes. I shall 
have to tell you about some of these. 

North of India lies a country named Afghanistan, or land 
of the Afghans, and about 1837 the British began to meddle 
with this region. In 1839 they sent a number of soldiers 
to Cabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and left 
Peo le^ ^" them in possession of that city. But you must 

know that the Afghans are a very fierce and 
brave people, who love their liberty, and they did not intend 
to have these strangers as masters of their country if they could 
help it. They gave the British so much trouble that in 1842 
the soldiers had to leave Cabul and begin a retreat to India. 

I do not think you ever read of quite so terrible a retreat 
as that was. There were 16,000 of the British, of whom only 
4000 were soldiers, and many of the others were women and 
children. Everywhere on the hills around them were the sav- 
age Afghans, who fired on them and cut them down by hun- 
dreds. It is hard to believe it, but of all that great company 
only one man got safely away. This was a Dr. Brydon, who 
was covered with cuts and bruises and so worn out that he 
was ready to fall from his horse when he reached an Indian 
city. A few had been taken prisoners, but all the rest were 
dead. Of the whole army only this one man escaped. 



ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES 93 

That was terrible enough, but a still more terrible event 
was soon to come. The British had made soldiers of some 
of the people of India, teaching them how to fight, and the 
time came when they thought they would rather fight for 
themselves than for their British masters. So they formed a 
secret plot, and in 1857 they broke out into a dreadful 
mutiny. Everywhere they suddenly began to kill the British 
— the women as well as the men, and even the poor little 
children. Things were done that are too horrible to talk about. 

Have you ever heard of the siege of Lucknow ? In this 
city were some soldiers and many women and children, and 
around the city were thousands of savage mutineers, trying to 
get in and kill them all. For months the soldiers 
fouo'ht them off, hoping" that help would come. , ^, '^^^ ^ 

t^ ' r fe r Lucknow 

At last they were half dead with the heat and 
with hunger, and began to fear that no one would ever come 
to their aid. But one day a Scotch girl sprang to her feet 
and cried out: " Dinna ye hear the pibroch ? " 

She had heard the bagpipes playing a Highland air. They 
were far off, but they came nearer and nearer, and got louder 
and louder, and then the Highlanders appeared, marching 
behind the piper and fighting their way through the enemy. 
You may imagine there was a happy time in the city of Luck- 
now that day. Life had come where they looked only for 
death. In the end the mutiny was put down 
and the mutineers were severely punished, and ^ .. . 
the British were masters of India again. They 
are masters of that country to-day, but no one can say how 
long they will stay so ; for in the north are the Russians, who 
would like to get India and China both ; and the people of 
India themselves are very tired of having a foreign master, 
and may rise in mutiny again some day. But all this is in the 
future, and the future is not history. 



94 ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES 

Now let US take a look at Africa, in which continent Eng- 
land has some large colonies. Africa is a great country, full 
of people, but nearly the whole of it has been taken as their 
own by the nations of Europe. England holds the lion's 
share, nearly 3,000,000 square miles. Then Germany, and 
Portugal, and Spain, and Turkey have each their share, and 
in the centre of the continent is the great Congo Free State, 
about 900,000 square miles, under the control of little Bel- 
gium. Nearly all the continent is claimed by the powers of 
Europe, except part of the desert of Sahara and the rocky 
country of Abyssinia, whose people have driven out their 
enemies and kept their freedom. 

England has the great Cape Colony in the south, of 

which I shall speak in a later chapter. Then it bas large 

colonies in the east and the west, and it holds 

The Partition t- j. • j.u ^i t^ i. • 4. i 

, . , . Egypt m the north. Egypt is not a colony. 

The British have no right there ; but they stay 

there all the same, and do not intend to let go as long a? they 

can hold on. But they have had to fight in Egypt as hard 

as in India. 

It is claimed that Egypt owns all the land along the great 
River Nile, as far as the great lakes of Central Africa. Here 
is where most of the fighting has been. An Arab prophet 
called the Mahdi stirred up the people of that region about 
1880 and drove out the British and Egyptians with great 
slaughter. Ever since then the British have been trying to 
fight their way back. In this long fight the brave General 
Gordon was killed and many others lost their lives. The last 
battle was in 1897, when General Kitchener gave the Arabs a 
terrible defeat. Thus if England is a little country in itself, 
it is the most extensive country in the wodd if we count its 
colonies. 




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CHAPTER XI 



How Bismarck Made an Empire 




OW-A-DAYS, in reading tiie newspapers, you 
will not often miss seeing something about Ger- 
many. Here you will read about its emperor, 
there about its army and navy, farther on about 
its laws or its people. It fills up so much space 
in the daily news that you might well take it to be one of the 
old empires of Europe. You would hardly think that this 
empire of Germany is only about thirty years old. Yet such 
is the case. You know how a mushroom grows. To-day it 
is only a little white ball the size of a pea ; to-morrow it is a 
wide-spreading, umbrella-shaped plant. That is the way Ger- 
many has sprung up, something like a mushroom. 

In the year 1800 there was a German people, but no 
German nation. I have told you how Italy was once broken 
up into little kingdoms. Germany was broken up much the 
same way. If you fling down a pain of glass it is likely to 
splinter into many fragments, some large, some 

I- • 1 11 r" J How Germany 

medmm sized, some small. Germany seemed r^. .^ ^ 

-^ was Divided 

to have been thrown down that way on the 
map of Europe and splintered into large and small bits. In 
the south was one great piece called the Empire of Austria. 
In the north was another piece not so large called the King- 
dom of Prussia. Then there were medium pieces called 
Saxony, Bavaria, and so on. After them came smaller pieces, 
and then a large number of tiny bits, some of them not much 
larger than a plantation down South. There were more than 

95 



96 HOW BISMARCK MADE AN EMPIRE 

three hundred of these states, some of which looked as if you 
might pick them up and put them in your pocket. They had 
their rulers, and their capitals, and their armies — if you call 
that an army which is made up of a drummer, anci a general, 
and a dozen or two of men. It was the kind of an army we 
see sometimes on the stage at the theatre. 

Most of the wars of Napoleon were with these German 
states. For many centuries they had been joined together 
into what was called the " Holy Roman Empire of the 
German Nation." They pretended to keep up the old Empire 
of Rome, but they were like so many beads on 
did forGerman" '^ String. Napolcon cut the String and away 
went the beads. That is to say, he put an end 
to the Holy Roman Empire. But he joined many of the 
small states together, and gave some of the little ones to the 
large ones, so that when he got through, instead of their 
being more than three hundred, there were only thirty-nine. 

Two of these, Austria and Prussia, were powerful nations. 
Four of them, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and Wurtemberg, 
were strong kingdoms. Most of the other thirty-three were a 
sort of vest-pocket states, whose rulers played at being kings. 
I am sure if you had been at their capital cities and seen those 
little rulers strutting about as if they owned the earth, you 
could not have helped laughing at them. 

Now let us go on down the century and see what else 
took place. As the years went by, Prussia kept growing 
stronger, while Austria stood still. Austria had once been 
the great power in Germany, but Prussia now took its place. 
Have you ever seen a young, strong fellow push an old man 
aside and take his place ? That is what Prussia did to Austria. 

In the year 1862 the king of Prussia died and a new king 
came to the throne, under the name of William I. And one 
of the first things King William did was to choose for his 



HOW BISMARCK MADE AN EMPIRE 97 

minister the ablest man in Germany, Count Otto von Bis- 
marck. Now if any of my little girl friends will dress up her 
doll in its best clothes, and put a sort of crown on its head, 
and pretend it is a king, and seat herself in a chair beside it, 
and pretend to be the king's minister, she will be able to see 
how things went on after that in Germany. It is not quite 
fair to call King William a dressed-up doll, but it was Count 
Bismarck who did the work, and if it had not been for him 
history would have very little to say about the great Emperor 
William of Germany. It was Bismarck who made a big 
emperor out of a little king. 

Bismarck was a very able man, but a good deal of a 
tyrant. He did all he could to overthrow the liberty of the 
people. He made laws without asking the parliament. He 
laid taxes, formed treaties with foreign nations, and did every- 
thing very much as he pleased. When he said 

T^- -^xrn- -J TT i. A. Bismarck and 

yes, Kmgf VVilliam never said no. He went to ^. ,,,.„. 

-^ ' o King William 

war with Denmark and took a large piece of 
land from that little kingdom. Then a dispute arose between 
Prussia and Austria, and these two powerful nations went to 
war. It was one of the shortest wars in history. In a few 
weeks Austria was completely beaten, and Prussia became the 
great power in Germany. This was in 1866. In 1870 there 
came a greater war still. 

I am going here to tell you how the war of 1870 came 
about, for, though it did not last very long, it was one of the 
most important wars in the nineteenth century. But first 
there are two things you should know, since these are the things 
that made Prussia so powerful. One was the strength of the 
army of that country. After Prussia was beaten so badly by 
Napoleon Bonaparte, early in the century, it began to drill 
soldiers and collect guns and powder and shot, and invent 
new weapons of war, until its army got to be the strongest in 



98 HOW BISMARCK MADE AN EMPIRE 

Europe. This was shown when it went to war with Austria, 
for it whipped that powerful nation more quickly than Napo- 
leon had done in any of his wars. 

The second thing you should know is that Prussia grew 
far stronger after the war with Austria. Some of the German 
states which had helped Austria were seized by Prussia, much as 
the United States has seized the Philippine Islands. Others of 
these states joined with Prussia to form a North German con- 
federation, a kind of federal union. In this way 

The Growth of p^^^^ggj^ |. ^^ i^g ^^^ ^f ^^^ ,^^^3^ powerful 

Prussia '^ ^ ^ 

kingdoms in Europe. It is well you should 
know this before you read about the war which helped Bis- 
marck to make an empire out of a kingdom. In the past 
Prussia had not been of much account in Europe ; now it 
was to become of great account. 

The war we are now talking about was with France. I 
told you a little about it in the chapter on Louis Napoleon ; 
now I must tell you more. You read in that chapter about 
the blunder that Napoleon made when he tried to start an 
empire in^ Mexico, and how quickly he got out when the 
United States told him to go. This blunder did not help him 
in France. Many of the people had always looked on him as 
a thief who had stolen the empire, and as soon as he began 
to make mistakes more people thought so. He did some 
other things which the people did not like, and it may be he 
began to fear that they would treat him as they had done 
Charles X. and Louis Philippe, and send him packing off to 
England. 

There was one way to put them in good humor again, 
and that was to go to war and win victories. After he had 
fought with and beaten the Austrians, the people got to think 
a great deal of him. If he could only defeat the Prussians, 
who had defeated the Austrians, it would make him a greater 



HO W BISMARCK MADE AN EMPIRE 99 

man than ever. Napoleon thought he had a very fine army, 
And he had a new gun which could throw twenty-five balls at 
once. He fancied that with his soldiers and his machine gun 
he could make as short work with Prussia as that country had 
done with Austria. As for the thousands of men who would 
be killed and wounded, and the families which w^ould be ruined 
and thrown into misery and despair, by a w^ar, that did not 
seem to trouble him. He thought a great deal more of him- 
self and his power than of the people of France and Germany. 

Of course, I am talking here about something that I only 
guess at. We do not often know the secret thoughts in the 
brains of kings and emperors, and can judge of what they 
think only by what they do. What Napoleon seemed to do 
was to look around him for some excuse for a 
war, something to fight about. He found one ^^^^s, ^ 
in Spain, which just then had no king, and was 
in the market for one, and which had offered its throne to a 
cousin of the royal family of Prussia, named Leopold. He 
accepted it, as was very natural, for thrones do not often go 
begging. 

Here was an excuse for war, ready-made, for the French 

emperor, who did not want to see a Prussian on the Spanish 

throne. He sent word to King William of Prussia that he 

must not let Prince Leopold accept the crown of Spain. King 

William sent word back that he had nothing to do with it, 

and that Leopold was his own master and free to do what he 

pleased. When Leopold heard of all this uproar he drew 

back and said he would not have the throne of Spain. That 

ought to have ended the whole business, and it would, if 

Napoleon had not wanted a war. As it was, he wrote to 

King William that it was not right to let Leopold accept the 

throne without consulting him and his 'cabinet. King William 

replied that he had nothing more to say, and that he would 
LcfC. 



loo HOW BISMARCK MADE AN EMPIRE 

not stop Prince Leopold from doing what he pleased in the 
matter. That was enough. Napoleon had found the excuse 
he wanted. He at once declared war against Prussia. 

I have used the name of King William, but the fact is 
that those answers came from Count Bismarck. The king 
danced when Bismarck played the fiddle. And when the war 
began, it was not the king who fought it, but a great general 
named Von Moltke, who could handle an army better than 
any man in Europe. As for the emperor Napoleon, he was 
as blind as a bat, and went to war without knowing what he 
was about. His uncle, the great Napoleon, 
French^Arm ^ knew all about his army ; the little Napoleon 
knew nothing about his. The war minister told 
him that all was ready, and that " not a single button was 
wanting on a single gaiter." The war minister knew no more 
about it than the emperor. In fact, nothing was ready, and 
there was a good deal more wanting than gaiter buttons. It 
was only in the Prussian army that everything was ready and 
not a button was missing. I fancy you can judge from this 
what was the end of Napoleon's war. 

The French were as ignorant of the state of affairs as 
the emperor. " On to Berlin ! " they shouted, flinging their 
hats into the air. They were full of high spirits. They said 
that in a few days they would be across the borders, and in a 
few weeks they would be in the Prussian capital, and that 
then King William and Count Bismarck would be glad to 
beg for peace. That was what they expected. What was the 
fact ? The fact was that they did not cross the border at all, 
they did not set foot on German territory, and the German 
army marched into Paris instead of the French army into 
Berlin. 

Now I have talked enough about what went before the 
war ; I must say something about the war itself I must let 



BOW BISMARCK MADE AN EMPIRE loi 

you hear the guns boom and the drums beat. I know that is 
what the boys Hke to hear, and some of the girls also. 

When the French army reached the frontier what did 
they see? There was the German army ready to meet them, 
moving like clockwork, every wheel of it fitting neatly into 
another wheel. General Von Moltke was too old to march 
at the head of the army, but he laid out all the plans so finely 
that it was said he had only to strike a bell and everything 
went as he wished. That was not the way with 
the French. There was no clockwork about ^_ ^^ ^^ 

tmperors 

their army. They were brave enough, but they 
had no great leader, no fine organization, no large supplies, 
and there was more confusion than system in their movements. 
They had gone to war blindly and were soon to find that out. 

The Emperor Napoleon marched with his army; his 
heart full of pride and hope. The telegraph lines were all 
ready to carry back the news of his victories to Paris. King 
William was with his army, too, and he was quite as confi- 
dent, and with more reason. The two armies met on August 
2, 1870, and within a week four battles had been fought. In 
the first the French got a little the best of it, and the wires 
took to Paris the story of a brilliant victory. After that they 
had nothing but the tale of defeat to carry. 

On August 6th there was a terrible battle at a place 
called Worth. It lasted fifteen hours, and both sides lost 
heavily. The French were defeated and had to retreat. But 
they had not gone far back before the Germans were ahead of 
them, cutting them off. Then two more battles were fought. 
On August 1 6th the two armies met at a place called Grave- 
lotte, the Germans with 200,000 men, the French with 
140,000. Here was fought the greatest battle of the war. 
The armies struggled face to face all day long. Both sides 
were brave and resolute. The French held their ground and 



I02 I/OJV BISMARCK MADE AN EMPIRE 

died like heroes. The Germans dashed on them and died like 
heroes. For nine hours went on the terrible conflict, and 
40,000 men fell dead or wounded on the bloody field. Then 
Bazaine, the French general, gave it up and withdrew his men 
to the strong city of Metz. He had fought bravely but had 
failed. The Germans surrounded Metz and held him there. 
In this way half the French army was shut up in a cage. 

There was another army of about 140,000 men under 

Marshal MacMahon, an able general, who had won fame in 

Italy. The Emperor Napoleon was with him. MacMahon 

tried to reach Metz and join Bazaine and his men, and Von 

Moltke laid his plans to stop him. He did so, 

e rap a ^^^ . ^|_^^ French were driven back, and at the 

end of August they gathered around a fortress 

named Sedan, on the Belgian frontier of France. It was just 

the sort of place Von Moltke wanted to get them in. He 

laughed when he saw tliem there. "The trap is closed and 

the mouse in it," he said. 

It turned out as he said. The German army spread out 
till they surrounded the French, and poured on them such a 
hail-storm of shot and shell that the valley was filled with 
dead and wounded. The French fought with their old cour- 
age, but they could not get out, and they were murdered in 
multitudes. In the end the whole army had to surrender. 
On the 2d of September, just one month after the first fight, 
an army of 83,000 men became prisoners of war, and with 
them the Emperor of France. 

Two days afterwards Louis Napoleon ceased to be 
emperor. A meeting was held in Paris, a new government 
was formed, the emperor was deposed, and a republic was 
established. This was a revolution, though it was finished in 
a day and without a shot being fired or a drop of blood shed. 
There have not been many revolutions like that. 



HO W BISMARCK MADE AN EMPIRE 103 

The war went on, but France had no chance to win. On 
October 30th Marshal Bazaine surrendered Metz and gave up 
his army of more than 150,000 men as prisoners of war. 
Then the Germans gathered around Paris and besieged that 
great city. Here the French made their last strong fight 
They held out for four months, until the people 
were so hungry that they had to eat the animals p^^.^ 
in the Zoological Garden. They gave up when 
there was nothing more to eat. Soon all the armies of France 
were dispersed, all its fortresses were captured, and the Ger- 
mans were masters of France. Napoleon's war had proved 
the greatest blunder of his life, for it ruined his country and 
ended his reign. 

There is one more thing of great importance to speak 
about — " How Bismarck made an Empire." What that great 
statesman wished to do was to restore the old German Empire 
and put Prussia at its head. This he had long worked for ; 
now the time had come to finish his task. North Germany 
was united with Prussia ; he got the South German states to 
enter into the same union, and to form an empire with King 
William at its head. 

His great work was finished at Versailles, the royal city 
of France, on the i8th of January, 1871. It was done with 
the utmost splendor and show, and when the crown of the 
empire was put on the head of the new emperor, William I. 
of Germany, there was such a shout as had sel- 
dom been heard there before, and the whole ^^ Germany 
great assembly sang the national hymns of 
Germany. Since then the country of the Germans has been 
divided into the German Empire and the Austrian Empire, 
and the emperor of Germany has been one of the leading 
monarchs of Europe. To Count Bismarck he owes his power 
and his fame. 



I04 I/O IV BISMARCK MADE AN EMPIRE 

The war ended on the loth of May, 1871, on which day 

a treaty of peace was made. France had to pay a high price 

for Louis Napoleon's short war, for Germany took as her own 

the two provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, and made her pay 

a war tax of $1,000,000,000. The French 

Treaty of Peace ir > > > 

people had made the greatest mistake in their 
history when they voted for Louis Napoleon as emperor, 
unless it was that in which they made his warlike uncle the 
leader of their armies. The nation would certainly have bt^en 
far better off if it had never seen a Napoleon. 

I have not told you the whole story of the war. France 
soon had a new enemy to fight. Paris had been stirred up to 
its dregs by the siege, and a terrible outbreak took place in 
that city, the lawless element of the people rebelling against 
the new government and fighting fiercely for control. It 
seemed like the great French Revolution brought back. The 
rioters seized the city, shot those who opposed them, set on 
fire or tore down some of the noblest buildings and monu- 
ments, and fought the troops of the republic like so many 
demons. They were at length put down, but the streets were 
filled with the dead and the river ran red with blood before 
peace and order were brought back to the famous old city of 
Paris, which had gone through the most terrible year in all its 
career. It v/as a year long to be remembered in the histoiy 
of Europe. 



CHAPTER XII 



Bolivar the Liberator and Toussaint 



the Brave 




F we were to go around the world in search of 
great men we would hardly think of stopping in 
South America. Somehow Spain and her colonies 
have not been good soil to grow great men in. 
It was not always this way. A few centuries 
ago Spain was a nursery for great men. I could name a 
dozen of them. But of late times Spain has been going down 
hill while other nations have been going up, and in the nine- 
teenth century it has not had a man whom anybody would 
think of calling great. In the colonies of Spain there has 
been only one such man, the famous General 

or u ^ T • i- • English and 

Bolivar, whose story I am e^omof to g'lve you. c, . . ^ , . 

' J & c5 ^5 J Spanish Colonies 

I have told you already what brought about 
the American Revolution, but I may say again that it was 
the unjust w^ay in vvhich the colonies were treated by George 
III., the English king. This taught England a lesson, and 
she quit treating her colonies in that way. She went to 
school, we may say, to the American people. 

But it did not teach Spain any lesson. That country 
was too proud to go to school to her colonies. She went on 
acting the tyrant to her people in America, and the time came 
when they got tired of it. They had seen how the people of 
the United States v/on their freedom, and they made up their 
minds to try and do the same thing. Thus the American 

105 



io6 BOLIVAR AND TOUSSAINT 

Revolution was a kind of object lesson to the people of 
Spanish America. Not long after the nineteenth century 
came in, war broke out in all the Spanish colonies, from 
Mexico in the north to Chili in the south. And they kept 
fighting till they all became free. I cannot tell you about all 
these cruel wars, so I shall speak only of Bolivar, the famous 
man whom the people of South America called the Liberator. 

Simon Bolivar was born in Caracas, the capital of Vene- 
zuela, a country in the northern part of South America. He 
was not brought up to love Spain, and he was born with a 
great liking for war and adventure. So, when his native 
country broke out in rebellion, he was quick to join the rebels, 
The Venezue= ^.nd in a short time they made him one of their 
lans and their leaders. For two or three years he fought for 
Liberator them, fought SO hard and well that the people 

called him their Liberator. But they were too soon, for they 
were not liberated yet. Spain put down the rebellion, and in 
1 813 Bolivar had to flee for his life to the English island of 
Jamaica. 

You may know how brave and able a soldier Bolivar 
was when I tell you that the Spaniards were more afraid of 
him than of all of the rest of. the people. They thought that 
nothing was safe while Simon Bolivar was alive. If they could 
get rid of him there was not another man in South America 
whom they cared about. They set out to get rid of this dan- 
gerous man in a true Spanish fashion. 

A spy was sent to Jamaica to seek for General Bolivar 
and to kill him in any way he could. He soon found him, 
— Bolivar did not hide himself He watched him and fol- 
lowed him secretly till he knew all about the life and habits 
of the Liberator. Then he hired a negro to murder him, pay- 
ing him well for the bloody work. The negro was told just 
what he was to do, and at midnight he crept up to Bolivar's 



BOLIVAR AND TOUSSAINT 107 

hammock and plunged his knife into the breast of the man 
who was sleeping there. By good luck, Bolivar was not 
sleeping there that night, and it was his unfortunate secre- 
tary who was murdered. 

After that Bolivar took better care of himself Three 
years after he had left Venezuela he was back there again, 
with money and muskets, and he soon had another army in 
the field. He fought on for three more years. Now his men 
were defeated and had to flee for their lives ; now they were 
victorious and the Spaniards had to flee ; at last, in 18 19, 
they w^on a victory that brought freedom to the country. 

Never was there a more cruel war. The Spanish soldiers 
and officers acted like brutal savages. Their prisoners and 
the people of the country were tortured and murdered in hor- 
rible ways. One writer tells us that he saw 

1 1 /- 1 • 1 11 1 • 1 -Spanish Cruelty 

more than seven thousand of their skulls dried 
and heaped together. Every person who could read and write 
was put to death. The Spaniards thought they could end 
the revolution by killing all the educated. 

I shall say nothing more about those horrors ; some of 
them are too terrible even to mention. It is better to tell 
how Bolivar won freedom for his country. After the war 
had gone on for three years, and neither side was much the 
better off, a bright idea came to General Bolivar. This was 
to cross the Andes Mountains and drive the Spaniards out 
of New Grenada. If he could win that country, it would 
give him a great advantage. He wanted to take the Spaniards 
by surprise, but he had a terrible journey before him. It was 
worse than Napoleon's crossing the Alps. First, the army 
had to march over an immense plain which was covered with 
water at that time of the year, and was crossed by seven deep 
rivers, which the soldiers had to swim. And all their baggage 
and war supplies had to be taken over this difficult country. 



io8 BOLIVAR AND TOUSSAINT 

This was bad enough, but it was not the worst. After 
the plain came the mountains, and, bad as the Alps may be, 
the Andes are worse. The soldiers had to toil up steep defiles, 
and narrow ravines down which ran brawlins: mountain tor- 
rents. The rains fell steadily and cataracts came tumbling 
over every height. Often the roads ran along the edges of 
precipices, where a false step would fling the unlucky traveler 
down hundreds or thousands of feet. After four days they 
were forced to give up their horses and go on foot, as the 
animals could proceed no farther. 

The torrents had to be crossed on narrow bridges made 
of tree trunks, or even by means of ropes tied to trees on both 
sides of the stream. Some of them could be forded, but a 
slip of the foot meant death. When they got higher there 
was less water, but the air grew chilly, and they 
^j^^gg found themselves amid huge rocks whose crev- 

ices were filled with deep snow. The men, who 
were used to warm winds, shivered with the cold. More than 
a hundred of them froze to death, and what was worse for the 
army their food gave out and starvation threatened them. 
They had brought some cattle thus f^ir, but here they had to 
leave them. 

But nothing could stop Bolivar. He crossed the terrible 
mountains, reached the upland province, took the Spaniards by 
surprise, and defeated them wherever he met them. Horses 
were collected, many of the men left behind came up, the 
people of the country joined him, and soon he was strong 
enough to fight the whole Spanish army in the field. He 
met the enemy in August, 1819, at a place called Boyaca, 
deceived them by an ambush, and defeated them so com- 
pletely that all of the soldiers who were not killed were taken 
prisoners. The general and nearly all the officers were taken. 
And how many men do you think the patriot army lost in 



BOLIVAR AND TOUSSAINT 109 

this victory ? Only 13 killed and 53 wounded ! It was like 
General Jackson's victory at New Orleans. 

Two years afterwards, in 1821, General Bolivar won 
another great victory, the Spaniards losing more than 6000 
men. That ended the struggle. The Spaniards left the 
country, and a republic was formed like that of the United 
States, with Bolivar for president. 

While this was going on the other Spanish colonies in 
America were fighting for their liberty. In Chili an important 
victory was won at Maypu in 181 7, and that country gained its 
freedom. One after another all the colonies in South America 
broke into rebellion, and Central America and Mexico joined 
in the struggle. They all won their liberty, 

ju o_o-ij i. 1 \ Ci. • other Colonies 

and by 1825 Spam had not a colony left m ^j^ preedom 
America except the islands of Cuba and Porto 
Rico. She lost these, too, before the end of the century. 
The fault was her own. Bad government, cruelty, and oppres- 
sion drove the people into rebellion, and of Spain's great 
empire hardly anything was left but Spain itself 

What else shall I say of General Bolivar ? After he had 
won liberty for Venezuela and New Grenada, he m.arched into 
Peru and drove the Spaniards from that country also. For 
this he was made Dictator of Peru. In 1825 he formed a new 
state, which the people called Bolivia, after his name, and 
made him its president for life. He died five years afterwards, 
the greatest man in South America. 

Before I end this chapter I must tell you about another 
liberator, the more so that he was a black man, a pure-blooded 
African, come of a race in which we do not look for great 
generals. He was born in the island of Hayti, a slave and the 
son of a slave, although he was the descendant of an African 
prince. His name was Toussaint L' Overture. Slave as he 
was, he had learned how to read and write, and he was so 



no BOLIVAR AND TOUSSAINT 

intelligent and trusty that his master put him in charge of 
his sugar-house. But the peaceful times in Hayti came to an 
end in 1791. That island belonged to France, and France 
was then in its great revolution, murdering its noblemen, so 
the slaves in Hayti broke out in rebellion also and murdered 
many of their masters. But Toussaint saved the lives of his 
master and family and helped them to escape from the island. 
Then he joined the army of blacks that was fighting for liberty 
The rebels said they were fighting for Louis XVI., who 
was in prison in France. They were obliged to fight againsl. 
their old masters, many of whom came back to the island to 
win their lost estates, and also ag^ainst th^t 

A Noble Negro . 7i, 

English and Spaniards, who came to help them. 
Toussaint soon showed himself the ablest man among the 
negroes and was made the chief general of their army. His 
people grew to love him deeply, and he showed himself a 
very able general. 

In 1794 the French declared that all their slaves should 
be free, and a French general was sent to Hayti to drive out 
the English and Spanish. Toussaint helped them with his 
troops, and was made commander-in-chief by the French 
commissioner in 1796. In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte gave 
him the same title. 

Toussaint was now at the height of his power. All classes 
and colors of the people looked on him as a noble and 
generous ruler. He governed them with kindness and 
humanity and brought back good order and prosperous times 
to the country. Then he made a constitution for his country, 
and the grateful people elected him president for life. 

Poor man ! he had the Corsican usurper to deal with. 
He sent Napoleon a copy of his constitution. He thought he 
could trust a man who, like himself, had gained power through 
courage, but he made a sad mistake. 



BOLIVAR AND TOUSSAINT iii 

" He is a slave and rebel," said Napoleon. "We must 
punish him ; the honor of France demands it. All these 
negroes are slaves, and slaves they shall remain." 

Napoleon was to find that it is not easy to enslave a 
people who have once enjoyed the blessing of freedom. In 
r8oi he sent an army of 35,000 men to Hayti to put down 
Toussaint and his republic. Toussaint went 
back to the mountains, foup^ht the French ^"^^ eon an 

' o Toussaint 

bravely, and killed thousands of them. Their 
general could not defeat him and had to treat with him and 
offer liberty to him and his people. Toussaint agreed and 
peace was made. 

He did not know Napoleon. The next year he was 
taken prisoner by treachery, carried to France, and put in the 
dungeon of a castle. Here he died in 1803 ; some say that 
he was starved to death. Napoleon has been called a mur- 
derer because he arrested a French prince in Germany, 
brought him to France and had him shot. I think he was as 
base a murderer in his treatment of this great and noble 
negro. And it was a murder that brought him no good. 
Hayti kept its freedom, and it is a free country to-day. But 
when we talk of the men who won freedom for America we 
must not forget the negro liberator, Toussaint L' Overture. 




CHAPTER XIII 

Development of the United States 

OU have taken a long journey now over the old 
world, and been introduced to a number of 
interesting people who had much to do with the 
history of that part of the earth during the past 
century. Among these were Napoleon, Nelson 
and Wellington, Gladstone, Garibaldi and Bismarck, and others 
I might name. Likely enough now, before you hear anything 
more about the old world, you would like to go to America 
and see what was going on in that country while all these 
events were taking place in Europe. 

Of course, I do not forget that we made a railroad jour- 
ney through the United States in the beginning of our work. 
But that was done at express speed; we traveled in a sort of 
lightning train ; now it seems well to make a slower journey 
and get a better idea of the history of the western world. 

I do not imagine that the thought ever came to you that 
the nineteenth century history of the United States divides 
itself into two great sections ; but such is the case. The first 
of these sections began with the adoption of the grand Con- 
stitution of the American republic, that founda- 
Sections'" ^^^^ stone of its laws and government which 

was laid just before the opening of the century. 
It ended in 1861, when Abraham Lincoln became President 
and the great Civil War commenced. The second section 
began with this war and ended at the close of the century, 

when the far-off Philippine Islands were added to the United 
112 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 113 

States and it began to take part in the politics of the world. 
This was the first step in a third section of American history, 
which will be developed in the twentieth century. In this 
chapter we shall speak only of the first section, during which 
the early development of the great republic was going on. 

At the opening of this period the United States was not 
much of a country. In the year 1800 its population was 
only 5,300,000, about equal to that of Canada to-day, and there 
were in the whole country only six cities of more than 8,000 
inhabitants. The largest of these was Philadelphia, which had 
about 50,000 people. It was looked on as a 
great city at that time ; but it would look small stlteslni^ 
to-day, when there are in that land three cities 
with more than a million inhabitants each. The country was 
a pretty big one even then, but the most of it was forest land, 
where nobody but Indians lived ; and in the wild west the 
people were spread out very thin indeed. 

If you had gone from end to end of the land at that time 
you would not have seen a railroad or a steamboat, but only 
sailboats on the streams and lumbering farm teams and emi- 
grant wagons on the roads, with a rattling stage-coach here 
and there. Instead of the great mills and factories which are 
now to be seen everywhere, you would have seen only a few 
little workshops, and in many of the houses you would have 
heard the whirr of the spinning-wheel and the rattle of the 
loom, with which the women of the house made homespun 
cloth for themselves and their families. Just think of that ! 
Why, to-day we look on a spinning-wheel as we might on 
something that came out of Noah's ark, and wonder what 
good it ever did. 

What I want to fix in your minds is the fact that in 1800 
that country was in its infancy. It was only beginning the 
great growth which it has made since. Now it is fast becom- 



114 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

ing full grown, with its nearly 80,000,000 people and its won- 
derful industries and great wealth. What it will become in 
another. century it is not easy to guess. 

As I have already told you, it w^as not long after 1800 
that its great growth in territory began. In 1803 it bought 
Louisiana from France, and at one great jump the country 
more than doubled its size. The people did not well know 
what they had bought. Hardly a w^iite man had ever set 
foot on that w^estern land. It was the land of 
r&a I ion ^^^ Indian and the buffalo, of broad plains and 

of Territory ' ^ 

lofty mountains ; and w^hen the daring travelers, 
Lewis and Clark, set out to explore it, it took them two years 
to travel over this great new region. After they told what 
they had seen nobody was sorry that the country had spread 
so far west. What was paid for it then would not buy some 
of its smaller cities to-day. 

That was only the beginning. Before the great Civil 
War the republic had had a still more wonderful growth. 
It bought Florida in 1819. Texas was added to it in 1845. 
In 1846 it got the great Oregon country, which now is 
divided into three large states. And in 1848 a vast territory 
was added to the United States, known as California and New 
Mexico, but much larger than w4iat we now know by these 
names. This came as the result of the war w^ith Mexico. 

You may see that in less than fifty years the country 
had spread out as if by magic. In 1800 it reached only to 
the Mississippi River ; in 1850 it stretched out to the Pacific 
Ocean. In 1800 it had no water boundary on the south ; in 
1850 it reached to the Gulf of Mexico, and farther west it took 
in a great part of old Mexico. It began in 1800 with about 
827,000 square miles ; in 1850 it possessed more than 
3,000,000 square miles. That was a pretty big jump, was it 
not, for half a century ? 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 115 

I can tell you, though, that it took a long time to settle 
that country. It was like a boy with a large cake and a small 
appetite. Give him time enough and he will eat all his cake, 
but he cannot swallow it all at once. That is the way it was 
with the Americans. They have been nibbling at their cake 
ever since, and it is not all eaten yet. For out west there are 
great sections of land on which no one lives. That is because 
they are rainless deserts, and nobody can live there until water 
is brought to them in some way. And there are other sections 
that could feed five times as many people as live on them. 

There were two things that went on in the time I am 
speaking of — there was fighting and there was working. 
These are two things that have gone on in all countries, and 
the fighting is nearly always a bad thing, for it 
stops the working and destroys much of what '^ '"^ ^" 
the work has produced. But sometimes it is a 
good thing, for it destroys a bad state of affairs and brings 
about a better state. There is not often anything so bad but 
that it may have some good in it. 

For three years, from 181 2 to 18 15, the United States 
was at war with England. This was a war of pride. England 
had insulted the Americans by taking sailors from their ships, 
and they wanted satisfaction. They did not get much ; neither 
country got much satisfaction from that war, v/hich did a 
great deal of harm and very little good. What satisfaction 
there was came to the United States, for it showed England 
that it could vvhip her on the sea, and after that she let its 
ships and sailors alone. 

In 1846 it went to war with Mexico. That war there 
was no need of, and it would not have come on if both sides 
had not been a little too anxious to fight. Instead of nego- 
tiating and arbitrating, as very likely would be done to-day, 
they got into a quarrel about which nation owned the land 



ii6 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

between two rivers ; both of them sent soldiers there, and as 
soon as the soldiers came together they began to fight. It is 
easy enough to have a war, you see, if both parties want it. 
But often one of the parties makes a mistake. I have told 
you how Louis Napoleon made a mistake in 1870. Mexico 
made a great mistake in 1846, for it was not half strong enough 
to fight the United States. 

What is more, Mexico had no good generals, and the 
United States had some excellent ones. General Jackson, 
who had won the battle of New Orleans, died the year before 
this war began, but there were General Scott and General Tay- 
lor, both of whom had shown themselves very 
-. .^* pfood soldiers. So it turned out that in all the 

Mexico o 

war the Mexicans did not gain a single victory, 
and they were beaten in battles where they had the most men 
and the best ground. 

The greatest victory was won by General Taylor at a 
place called Buena Vista. He had only 5000 men, and Santa 
Anna, the Mexican general, had 20,000. But Taylor s men 
were in a mountain pass which was hard to take, and they 
fought so well that they drove away Santa Anna and his 
large army. 

General Taylor was not a man to put on airs. He did 
not care for a fine uniform, and often wore a rusty old suit 
and a straw hat. The soldiers called him old " Rough and 
Ready." He knew how to fight, and that was what he was 
best suited for. After the war the people thought so much of 
him that they elected him President of the United States. 
This was a great mistake. He was not made to be a states- 
man, and he was worried so much by the politicians that he 
died before his time was half over. 

General Scott took his army by water down to the Mexi- 
can port of Vera Cruz. Here he landed and marched across 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 117 

the country, defeating the Mexicans wherever he met them, 
though they often had stj-ong forts and many more men than 
he. They did not make a good fight. In fact they made a very 
poor one. They were driven back, step by step, to their 
capital city of Mexico, and into this General Scott marched 
with his army. Then the Mexicans gave it up and asked 
for peace. 

I have already told you that the United States got Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico from this war. The troops held them 
at the end of the war, and the government bought them from 
Mexico as later on it bought the Philippine 
Islands from Spain. What was paid for them ^ j.^ ^^. 
amounted to about $18,000,000. A few years 
afterwards, when gold was being dug in vast quantities in 
California, it would not have sold them back for a hundred 
times that sum. 

Besides these two large wars there were a number of small 
wars with the Indians. Those I shall not say anything about 
here. They all ended one way, the Indians were defeated 
and made to give up part of their lands. Step by step they 
were crowded back into the country which the white people 
did not yet want ; when they came to want it the Indians 
had to give way again. In this way it has always gone on. 
But I shall say no more about the Indians here, as I intend 
to tell you about them in the next chapter. 

Now that so much has been said about the triumphs of 
war, let us turn for a time to the triumphs of peace. After 
the war of 181 2 the United States was not in a very good 
state. It had spent more than $80,000,000 and had nothing 
to show for it. That would not be thought much of nowa- 
days, but it was a good deal for a poor country. All the gold 
and silver had disappeared and there was only paper money 
in use — and not a very good kind of paper money either, not 



ii8 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

nearly so safe as that we use to-day. The trade of the country 
was ruined. Manufactures had sprung up during the war, 
but after it British ships filled the country with cheap goods, 
so that many of the manufacturers had to stop operations. 

If you know much about the American spirit you will 

know that the people were not of the kind to let that state of 

affairs last. They went to work with a will and soon there 

was a new story to tell. Ships were built and launched and 

began to carry American products across the 

very ing scas. And a tariff law was passed by Con- 

Booming . 

gress which put a high tax on foreign goods 
and raised their price, so that the factories of the country 
were soon at work again and many new ones were being 
built. Before the century was very old everything was boom- 
ing and the people were fast growing rich. 

This was the time that steamboats were being put on the 
rivers and steamships on the oceans, so that travel and the 
carriage of goods greatly increased. Good, solid highways 
were built in place of the old dirt roads, and canals were dug, 
the greatest of these being the Erie Canal in New York. Soon 
after came a greater thing still, the railroad. The locomotive 
had been invented in England and brought to the United 
States, where the people laid rails across the land so rapidly 
that in time they had thousands of miles of this kind of road. 
Thus travel grew greater than it had ever been, and corn and 
wheat and goods of all kinds were carried faster and cheaper 
than had been dreamed of by any one in past times. 

Never did a country grow more rapidly. People crossed 
the ocean so fast that in 1850 there were in the great republic 
more than 23,000,000 inhabitants, all intelligent and active 
workers. Into the land they pushed, mile after mile, league 
after league. The forests were cut down and new farms 
planted, until the Americans were able to feed, not only 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 119 

themselves, but much of the old world. In the South cotton 
was grown over an immense region and England was sup- 
plied with all it wanted for its busy looms. But the United 
States no longer depended on England and Europe for goods. 
The rattle of machinery could be heard in all parts of the 
country. Every kind of goods was made there, the most 
wonderful machines were invented, and no other country in 
the world went ahead half so fast. 

Is not this a good deal to say for that young nation ? I 
am not boasting. What I have told you is the truth. And 
it is not all the truth, for there were riches of nature which 
were still greater than the riches of art and industry. Never 
was there a country with more wonderful stores . , . . 

•1 1-1 Mineral Wealth 

of natural wealth for the use of mankmd. 

Iron could be had in whole mountains, for there is a 
mountain in Missouri which is made up of iron ore. Pennsyl- 
vania was found to be full of this metal and of coal, and these 
valuable products were found in many other places, the beds 
of coal and iron surpassing any other country in the world. 
Then there were rich mines of copper and lead and other 
metals, and in time it was found that the United States was 
one of the richest countries in the world in gold and silver. 
Later on great wells of petroleum, or rock oil, were opened, 
and it was able to light up the world. 

Even this is not all its wealth. There was the timber 
of its mighty forests, and its rivers and oceans were found 
to be full of valuable fishes, so that in every way that country 
had a rich supply of nature's wealth, and it went ahead faster 
than any other country in the world. 

I cannot tell you all that was done from the time of the 
signing of the Constitution to the beginning of the great Civil 
War, but from what I have said you can see how fast the 
Western republic has grown. 



CHAPTER XIV 




The Indians and the Negroes 

ID you ever think of the great variety of people in 
the country we all live in? There are English, 
Irish and Scotch, French, Dutch and Germans, 
Swedes, Italians and Turks, and men and 
women of various other nations. And that is 
not all ; there are white men, black men, red men, and yellow 
men. The white men are the Europeans, the yellow men the 
Chinese, the black men the Negroes, and the red men the 
Indians. 

I do not need to tell you how these races of people 
differ. You see the black men everywhere among us, quietly 
at work, good-natured and peaceful. The red men are very 
different. They are fierce and savage, and like 
better to fight than to work. When the white 
men first came here they found these red-faced 
people, whom they called Indians, hunting in the woods, fish- 
ing in the streams, and fighting with one another in woods 
and on streams alike. 

I cannot tell you the whole history of the Indians. All 
I can say is that they have been fighting with the whites ever 
since the first white men came to this country. You need not 
wonder at this, for the newcomers treated the old owners of 
the land very badly. The Indians were quiet and peaceful 
under William Penn and all those who paid them for their 
lands. But they fought like tigers with the people of New 
England and all who robbed them of their homes. 

120 



The Indians or 
Red Men 




CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW WLN DELL PHILLIPS EDWARD EVERETT 

GREAT AMERICAN ORATORS AND STATESMEN 




SIX GREt^T AM 



POET 



THE INDIANS AND THE NEGROES 121 

But what could these poor ignorant savages do against 
the white men with their rifles and cannon ? They were 
pushed back to the west until they were nearly all driven over 
the Mississippi River. And they did not get much rest there. 

There were many great warriors among the Indians. 
There was the brave Tecumseh, who thought he could drive 
all the white men from the country. There was the bold 
Osceola, who fought like a lion for his home in Florida. 
There was Black Hawk, the daring chief of the west. There 
were dozens of others, but one after another they were all 
killed or captured, and the white men kept pushing deeper 
and deeper into their country. 

What do you think of all this ? Does it seem to you 
that the American people ought to be proud of their dealings 
with the Indians? Ought they not to be very much ashamed? 
Why, I have -not told you the half of it ; they not only fought 
with and killed them, but they robbed and cheated them in a 
hundred ways. The Indians were ignorant and 
simple-minded and could easily be deceived, ^^l^^^^ 
The whites were shrewd and cunning, and 
played all sorts of dishonest tricks on the old owners of the 
soil. They wanted the rich lands of the red men, and when 
they could not get them by fair means they got them by foul. 
If I were to tell you fully how the red men were treated I 
know you would feel that the whites were very much to blame. 

Down in Georgia there was a great body of peaceful 
Indians tilling the soil and not interfering with the whites. 
But there were men who wanted their fertile lands and tried 
to get them by a dishonest trick. In the end the poor savages 
had to give up their native land, and were made to go to new 
lands beyond the Mississippi. A large number of them died 
on the way, some of them, very likely, from sorrow and grief, 
for they loved their homes as dearly as we loved ours. 



122 THE INDIANS AND THE NEGROES 

The same thing took place in Florida. The settlers there 
wanted the Indians removed so that they could have their 
lands. But the red men would not give up their homes and 
fought for them as bravely as our forefathers fought against 
the British. The war lasted about as long as the Revolution, 
but the white men proved too strong, and most of the Indians 
were taken and sent away to the west. But some of them 
stayed, hiding in the great Florida swamps, and their children 
live there to-day. 

When the nineteenth century came in, the United States 
did not extend west of the Mississippi River. But soon after- 
wards the western country was bought from France and 
explored by Lewis and Clark, and then our people began to 
cross the great river and make their way into the wide wil- 
derness beyond. Here they found new tribes of Indians — the 
great tribes of the Sioux, the Comanches of 

Extension and -i- ^.i, r: /^u a *^u 

J Texas, the fierce Cheyennes, and many others. 

Soon the old story began again. The rough 

pioneers pressed upon the Indians and maltreated them in 

a hundred mean ways, and the agents sent out by the 

povernmcnt to take care of them robbed and starved them. 

o 

When the Indians grew angry and killed some of their 
oppressors, soldiers were sent to settle the difficulty by shoot- 
ing them down. This went on for many years, until the red 
men lost nearly all their lands in the west, as they had lost 
their lands in the east. Most of them were sent to the Indian 
Territory, where the Indians of Georgia and Florida were then 
living. Others were given new lands elsewhere, where they 
were looked after by the government, and in time all the fight- 
ing and killing came to an end. 

I have told you about how the Indians were treated. It 
was very shabby and mean, was it not ? But you should not 
blame the government very severely for it. It was the fron- 



THE INDIANS AND THE NEGROES 123 

tiersmen and the political agents and the gold hunters and 
cunning and dishonest men of all kinds that made the trouble. 
And the red men added to the difficulty. Instead of ask- 
ing for their rights, they tried to get them by shooting and 
burning their enemies. I suppose it could not be helped. 
Human nature is the same everywhere. When savage and 
civilized men come together things are sure to go wrong, and 
there are always injustice and violence. All I can say here is 
that the wrong-doing with the Indians seems now at an end ; 
m.any of them are settled and civilized, and all of them are 
likely to be so before many years. 

Now let us turn from the red to the black men, and see 
what is to be said about them. They did not belong to this 
country like the red men. And they did not come here to 
make new homes for themselves like the white men. They 
were stolen away from their homes in Africa and brought here 
against their wills, and treated so badly that many of them 
died on the way and were thrown overboard into the sea. 
Those who lived to reach this country were sold as slaves. 
That is, they did not own themselves as you do, but were 
owned by others. They could not do as they 
wished, or go where they pleased, but had to „ ^ avery 
do as they were told. The only way they could 
go from one plantation to another was to be sold to a new 
master. I am afraid you cannot quite appreciate this. There 
are no slaves in this country to-day, and have been none 
since you were born. But in the days of your fathers and 
grandfathers there were millions of them, men with black faces 
and strong hands, who had to work where they were told and 
could be cruelly whipped if they refused to obey their master's 
word. , In those times most of our people thought this was 
right. Nowadays nobody thinks it right, and no civilized 
country keeps men in slavery. 



124 THE INDIANS AND THE NEGROES 

If you think slavery was wrong, you think as many did 
in the first half of the century. And this belief gave rise to 
great events. The most important part of our history in the 
nineteenth century came from the belief that slavery was an 
unjust and cruel institution, for it led to a great and terrible 
war that almost broke our country into two. I must tell you 
how this war came about. 

The people who did not believe in slavery were not the 
kind of men who keep their thoughts to themselves. They 
talked about it, and lectured about it, and printed newspapers 
about it, and kept on talking and printing until a great many 
more took up the same belief. Then they formed abolition 
societies and anti-slavery societies, and sent men to Congress, 
and the same kind of talk was soon heard in the House and 
the Senate of the United States. 

In time Congress was divided into two parties, a slavery 
and an anti-slavery party. Both sides were strong in their 
opinions and there were many disputes and some hard fights 
on the floors of the Capitol at Washington. Violent speeches 
were made by both parties, and some of the 
Quarre s in members did not keep to words. One pas- 

Congress ^ ^ 

sionate man from South Carolina attacked 
Senator Sumner for making a speech he did not like, and 
beat him over the head with a cane until he was half dead. 
Others fought duels and tried to kill one another. It is 
always that way when men's passions are worked up ; they 
cannot keep themselves to words. 

While this was going on a remarkable book was written 
by a woman named Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was called 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin," and it told the story of a slave in a 
way that made millions of people read it, and changed thous- 
ands of them into abolitionists. Some of you may have read 
this book or seen its story played on the stage. If not, and 



THE INDIANS AND THE NEGROES 125 

if you wish to know what slavery was like, I should advise 
you to buy and read it, for it tells a very thrilling story of 
life among the slaves. 

Some of the abolitionists wanted slavery done away with 
altogether. Others wanted it kept where it was, and tried to 
prevent it from spreading to new states. But the owners 
of slaves said they had the right to take them where they 
pleased, and that there ought to be as many slave states as 
free states. This led to a fierce fight with words in the hall of 
Congress, and in time to a fight with firearms elsewhere. 

One of the western territories, named Kansas, was nearly 
ready to be made into a state, and both parties tried to get 
possession of it. Emigrants hurried there from the North 
with their wagons and plows and began to build towns and 
lay out farms. Slave owners came from Missouri with their 
slaves. Each side tried to capture the new 
state, and soon fighting began ; rifles were fired y^ans^s *"^ 
and men were killed. The town of Lawrence, 
settled by the abolitionists, was attacked and plundered. 
Then a party of abolitionists, led by an old man named John 
Brown, attacked the slave holders and killed several of them. 
Afterwards he led his men into Missouri, destroyed much 
property, and set free a number of slaves. All this made 
great excitement in the country. 

I have not told you the whole story of John Brown. The 
old man thought so much about the wrongs of the slaves that 
he became half insane on that subject. He thought that if 
Congress would do nothing for them they ought to fight for 
their own freedom, and that all they wanted was somebody to 
show them the way. And he made up his mind th it he was 
the man chosen to lead them to freedom. He talked it over 
with his neighbors until he got about twenty men to think 
the same way, then he set out to put his wild plan into effect. 



126 THE INDIANS AND THE NEGROES 

John Brown must have been a good talker to be able to 
get any men to follow him on that wild scheme. One night, 
in October, 1859, he appeared with some men at Harper's 
Ferry, on the Potomac River. Here there was a United 
States arsenal, and near by were many slaves, whom he 
expected to arm out of the arsenal and lead against their 
masters. He thought he would soon have an army of blacks 
to follow him. 

John Brown was a brave man, but he was not a wise one, 
and did not understand very well the spirit of the blacks. He 
seized the arsenal and called upon the slaves to rise and fight 
for freedom. If they had been Indians he might soon have 
raised an army, but the blacks are quiet and 
g^^j. peaceful, and most of them were satisfied with 

their masters, so not one of them came. What 
did come was a party of soldiers, who soon took the arsenal 
and had Brown and most of his men prisoners. John Brown 
was hanged, with six of his men, and that was the end of his 
wild attempt to make the slaves rise against their masters. 

All he did was to make the bitter feeling between North 
and South stronger than ever; but in the war that followed 
many of the soldiers marched to battle with a song to the 
memory of old John Brown : 

"John Brown's body lies mouldering in the ground ; 
His soul is marching on." 



CHAPTER XV 




Abraham Lincoln and the Freedom 

of the Slave 

WISH to tell you something now about a poor 
little boy who was born nearly a hundred years 
ago in the backwoods of Kentucky, He lived 
in a mea^i little log house whose furniture was 
chopped out of the trees with the axe, and when 
he went to his bed of leaves in the loft he had to climb up a 
row of wooden pins driven into the logs. He had rough 
clothes to wear and poor food to eat, and had to work very 
hard, but for all that he was a happy little chap, for he knew 
no better way of living, and he had a good kind mother who 
thought the world of him. 

He did not have much chance to go to school, but he 
went long enough to learn how to read and write, and after 
that he taught himself He would sit on the floor on winter 
nights and read and write by the light of the fire, for candles 
were not to be had. He had only a few books, but they were 
good ones, and he read them over and over till 
he knew the best thing^s in them by heart. He .,, ^ ^ 

o -^ Western Boy 

had no paper nor pencils, and when he wanted 
to write or cipher he had to do it with charcoal on the back 
of the wooden fire-shovel. When it was full of words or 
figures he scraped them off and had a clean surface to work 
on again. I am afraid that many of you would not have be- 
come scholars under such conditions, but this little fellow was 
very ambitious and was determined to learn. 

127 



128 LINCOLN AND THE FREEDOM OF THE SLA VE 

The poor boy who had to study by the Hght of the 
kitchen fire, in time came to be a great man. His name was 
Abraham Lincoln. He worked with his father on the farm and 
in the woods, and nobody could swing an axe better than he. 
When he grew up he became big and strong, being more 
than six feet high, and no man in the country could beat him 
in cutting down trees and splitting them into rails. 

But he did not intend to spend all his life in the woods. 

He kept on reading and studying, till he got to be the best 

scholar in the country around. He tried different things. He 

went on a flat-boat down the river to New Orleans ; he became 

a clerk in a country store, and after a while he 

Lincoln Studies , .^11 tt ■ . 1 1 

L^^ began to study law. He was quiet and good- 

natured, and did not care to fight, but once 
he was attacked by a bully named Jack Armstrong and 
whipped him so quickly that the fighters thought it best to 
let Abe Lincoln alone. 

When Lincoln got older he kept a store of his own. 
But he paid more attention to his books than his customers, 
so he got into debt and the store broke up. Then he kept a 
post-ofhce, and after that he learned how to survey land and 
spent some years at that. All this time he was studying law, 
for he had made up his mind to be a lawyer. All the people 
liked him, for he would help anybody he could, and he knew 
so many funny stories, and told them so well, that no one was 
better company than he. 

Abe Lincoln was born in Kentucky, but his father soon 
moved to Indiana, and afterwards to Illinois. When he went 
there it had very few people, but they kept coming, and got 
thicker every year. Illinois became a State, with its governor 
and legislature, and in time young Lincoln's neighbors liked 
him so well and thought him such a scholar, that they elected 
him to the legislature to help make their laws. The State 





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LINCOLN AND THE FREEDOM OF THE SLAVE 129 

Capitol was a hundred miles away, but he could not afford 
to ride, so he walked all that distance, with his pack on his 
back. 

That was uphill work, was it not ? Not many men have 
come up so soon from a backwoods hut to a statehouse. But 
it shows what men can do when they have the brains and the 
push. It was intellect and energy which carried Abe Lincoln 
that far, and which were to carry him much farther. And with 
all this he was one of the kindest-hearted men 

,1, Tjr\ 1 u -Ji. Lincoln's Klnd= 

that ever lived. Once, when he was name to . 

' '^ heartedness 

court in his best clothes, he saw a pig stuck fast 
in a mud-hole. He did not want to spoil his clothes, so he 
rode on. But he could not help thinking of poor piggy, and 
after he had gone two miles he turned back and lifted the 
poor animal out of the hole. The pig trotted away grunting 
his thanks, and Lincoln rode on looking as if he had been 
pulled out of a mud-hole himself. 

Now I think I must quit talking about Abe Lincoln and 
talk about Abraham Lincoln. The rail-splitter had earned the 
right to have his full name. He was sent to the legislature 
for many years, and proved to be a good speech-maker, and 
just the man the people wanted. And he got to be a lawyer 
and quite likely a good one. He did not make much money, 
for he would not take pay from the poor, and would not take 
a case if he did not think it was a just one, but he managed to 
live. In the end, the people of his district elected him to 
Congress, and he became one of the law-makers for the whole 
country. 

This was in 1846, when he was thirty-seven years old. 
While he was in Congress the war with Mexico went on, and 
there was talk about slaves and slavery. The people of the 
South wanted to take their slaves into the new states and 
territories that had been obtained from Mexico, but Lincoln 



I30 LINCOLN AND THE FREEDOM OF THE SLAVE 

thought they had no right to do so, and he said so in his 
speeches. He did not want the country to interfere with 
slavery where it was, but he thought it had gone far enough 
and ought to be stopped from going farther. He had become 
a very good and sensible speaker, and people listened to him, 
and in time his name became known through all the country. 
There were two parties in the North at that time, one 
that did not believe in slavery and one that did. Abraham 
Lincoln came to be one of the leaders in the first party. 
Another fine speaker in Illinois, named Stephen A. Douglas, 
was one of the leaders of the second party, — the one that 
believed in slavery. Douglas was in the Senate of the United 
States, but when a new election came up Lin- 

The Leaders of i c l.\ cc j i.u i. 

X.- 1- r» _*• coin ran for the omce, and there was a e^reat 

the Two Parties ' o 

contest in Illinois. These two men went from 
town to town, making speeches to great crowds of people, 
Douglas for slavery, Lincoln against it. There was splendid 
speech-making on both sides, and the people listened as if 
they had never heard any one speak before. But the party 
of Douglas was the strongest, and he was sent back to the 
Senate. 

Thouo^h Lincoln did not Qfet to the Senate, he did not 
waste his time. His speeches made him famous over the 
whole country. He had said so many strong things against 
slavery that the anti-slavery people looked on him as their 
best man, and when, in i860, the time came to elect a new 
President, the rail-splitter of Illinois was the favorite of the 
Republican party. 

That great debate between Lincoln and Douglas in Illi- 
nois had been read by millions of people, and when the 
nominations were made, Lincoln was drawn as the Republican 
candidate and Douglas as the Democratic one. Down South 
two other candidates were nominated, but when the election 



LINCOLN AND THE FREEDOM OF THE SLA VE 131 

came off Lincoln was found to have beaten them all. Out of 
the three hundred and three electoral votes he received one 
hundred and eighty, or more than one-half Abraham Lin- 
coln, the rail-splitter of Illinois, was elected President of the 
United States. From the log hut, with its furniture chopped 
out by the axe, he was sent to the splendid White House at 
Washington, to stand as the equal of the kings and emperors 
of Europe. You may see from that what brains and honesty 
can do in a country like America. 

Poor Abraham Lincoln ! he was great but he was not 
happy. For four years and more he was President, but they 
were years of trouble and anxiety, and he was killed by an 
assassin just when his troubles were over and peace and hap- 
piness about to begin. It is not always the 
best thinp" in the world to strive for neatness, ^. ^."", ,f,** 

o fc> ' the Civil War 

if one wishes to enjoy life. High station brings 
its troubles, and greatness and happiness do not always go 
together. But for all that I expect every one of you would 
like to become President of the United States and take your 
chances of having a happy time. 

Why was not Lincoln happy, do you ask ? He had good 
reason not to be. He had no sooner become President than 
war broke out between the South and the North, and it kept 
on almost as long as he lived. The leaders in the South, 
when they saw how strong the anti-slavery party was, became 
afraid that their slaves might be taken from them, and made 
up their mind to break up the Union of the States. And 
when the North said that the Union should be preserved, both 
sides took their arms and began to fight, and soon there was 
a terrible war. 

You may be sure that it was not pleasant to be President 
in such a case as this. No end of mistakes were made and 
poor Lincoln was blamed by many for them all. And it hurt 



132 • LINCOLN AND THE FREEDOM OF THE SLA VE 

his good heart to see so many of the people killed and 
wounded in battle. But he was so kind and patient, so wise 
and honest, that the people grew to love him and the soldiers 
fought all the better for thinking that they had so noble a man 
at their head. In the end almost every one began to think 
that we never had a greater or better President. 

The question of slavery troubled Lincoln. He did not 

want to interfere with it, for he said that we were fighting for 

the Union, not for slavery. He did not do so till two years 

had passed, and he saw that slavery was helping 

r. \^^ ^- the South in the war. Then he declared that 

Declaration 

the slaves should be free. That was a great 
declaration, equal in its way to our Declaration of Independ- 
ence. For it set free with one stroke of the pen many more 
human beings than were set free by the Revolutionary War. 
But it made the enemies of the President hate him more 
than ever, and after the war was over and peace had come 
back to the land, one of these men shot him dead as he sat in 
a box at the theatre, looking at a play on the stage. It was 
a cruel and dreadful deed, and one that did more harm than 
good to the South, for Abraham Lincoln was one of the best 
friends the South had. The President died for his country, 
and the people mourned him as if each of them had lost one 
of his own family. He died a martyr to the cause to which 
he had given so much of his life. But slavery was dead in 
the United States ; the shot that killed Abraham Lincoln 
broke the last fetter of the slave. 



CHAPTER XVI 

The Great Civi! War in America 




AVE any of you ever dropped a seed in the ground 
and then, to your surprise, found a troublesome 
plant growing up ? That is much like what the 
people did who voted for Abraham Lincoln for 
President. The votes which they dropped into 
the ballot box were the seeds of trouble, and the plant which 
sprang from them was a dreadful war, one of the greatest 
wars of the century. If they had known what was to come I 
fancy many of them would have cut off their hands rather 
than drop that vote. But war often comes without giving 
warning, and to most of our people this war gave no warning 
at all. It came like a flash of lightning out of a clear sky. 

But though the storm seemed to come suddenly, it had 
been long gathering. The dispute about slavery had been 
growing worse for many years, and when the anti-slavery 
party became strong enough to elect a presi- 
dent, many of the people of the South thought 5* t % 
the end had come. They believed that laws 
would be passed to rob them of their slaves or to injure them 
in other ways, and thought that if they wanted to save them- 
selves now was the time to draw out of the Union and estab- 
lish a nation of their own. 

V^hat they did was to hold conventions and pass resolu- 
tions to secede from the Union. Then they took possession 
of the property of the government in the South, and when 
Major Anderson, of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, 

9 133 



134 THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA 

refused to give up the fort to them, they fired on it with 
cannon until it was a heap of ruins and the Major had to 
surrender. 

^ What was the North doing all this time ? Well, it was 

doing very little of anything. It was simply waiting and 

hoping. But when the Southerners fired on Fort Sumter 

there was a change. The stars and stripes had 

ar rea s been fired on ! The flag- of the nation had been 

Out ^ 

insulted ! It must be avenged ! That was the 
cry. All through the North the people were full of anger, 
and when President Lincoln called for troops he could have 
had half a million if he had asked for them. 

Peace was at an end. War had begun. Everywhere there 
was mustering of soldiers and marching of troops. Mothers 
wept over their sons as they set out for the field of battle, and 
the soldier boys had wet eyes, though they tried their best to 
look brave. Sweethearts kissed and bade good-bye, fearing 
they would never see one another again. And many of them 
never did, for the cruel hand of war laid many thousands of 
soldiers dead on the battlefield. North and South this went 
on, and it was not long before there were two large armies in 
the field, and the rattle of the musket and the roar of the 
cannon were heard, and men began to fall and die for the 
cause which they thought the right. 

This is not a history of the United States, so I shall not 
tell you all that took place in this war. It was full of events 
' — of battles and marches and sieges, fighting by land and 
fighting by sea, wild rides of cavalry and fierce rushes of 
infantry, and all that makes war terrible and grand. For four 
years it went on, from 1861 to 1865, and in that time there 
were hundreds of battles and skirmishes, and in many places 
the ground was thick with the graves of the heroes who had 
died for their cause. 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA 135 

Washington was the capital of the Union and Richmond 
the capital of the seceded states, or the "Confederate States 
of America," as they were called, and in Virginia, between 
these two cities, the hardest and bloodiest battles took place. 

But there were many terrible battles in the West and the 
South, and soldiers kept gathering until there were more than 
a million men fighting in the field, and hundreds of thousands 
of mothers, sisters and wives were weeping for their loved 
ones at home. 

Both sides won victories, but the North had the most 
money and men, and if you know anything about war you 
must know that it is generally money and men that win. 
The war went on for two years, and then, about the 4th of 
July, 1863, the North gained two very important victories. 
One of these was on the battle-field of Gettysburg, in Penn- 
sylvania. Here for three days two great armies 
fought until there was hardly a foot of the vkksburg-^ ^" 
ground without its pool of blood, and then, on 
July 4th, the army of the South marched away in defeat. 
Victory remained with the North. And on the same day the 
city of Vicksburg, in Mississippi, which had long been be- 
sieged, surrendered to General Grant, and twenty-seven 
thousand soldiers were made prisoners of war. That was a 
fatal 4th of July for the South. It fought on for two years 
more, but there was little hope, for it after that day. 

There were many good soldiers and able officers in the 
war, but in time two of them came to the head — ^Ulysses S. 
Grant in the North and Robert E. Lee in the South, two of 
the ablest soldiers of the century. Lee was a brilliant fighter 
and v/on victories by daring and dash. Grant did not have 
so much dash, but he had more of the bulldog, and when he 
took hold he never let go. William T. Sherman and Philip 
H. Sheridan were other famous generals of the North. Some 



136 THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA 

of you may have read the stirring poem of "Sheridan's Ride," 
or seen the picture of him on his great galloping horse, riding 
from Winchester to the battle-field. Joseph E. Johnston and 
Thomas J. Jackson were famous generals of the South. 
Likely enough you have heard the name of "Stonewall" 
Jackson. It was given him because he stood with his men 
on the battle-field like a wall of stone. 

Now we must go on to the year 1864, when Grant was 
made Commander-in-chief of the armies of the North and 
came to Virginia to take charge there. General Lee opposed 
him at the head of the army of Virginia. After that there was 
From the ^^ more dashing about and fighting battles 

Wilderness to here and there, with little to come from them 
Petersburg except the killing of men. The bulldog had 

come and the hold-fast game began. Grant made a plan and 
stuck to it. Richmond was his goal and for Richmond he 
pushed. But he had a hard and desperate fighter to deal 
with, and for a whole year Lee held him back. 

There were terrible battles, beginning in the wild country 
called the Wilderness, and keeping on down nearly to Rich- 
mond. Every step of the way was strewn with the dead. 
Grant then crossed the James River and tried to get to Rich- 
mond from the South, but Lee met him here, too, and both 
sides began to dig earthworks and mount cannon. After that 
the battles in the field for a long time stopped, and it became 
a game of the spade and the cannon-ball. This is known as 
the siege of Petersburg, for the earthworks were built before 
the town of that name. 

That was the way the war went on in Virginia. In the 
South, it went in a different way. General Sherman was in 
command there, and in his way he was as brilliant as General 
Lee. South into Georgia he marched, now fighting a battle, 
now slipping around the enemy and pushing on. At length, 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA 137 

he reached the city of Atlanta, the arsenal of Georgia. This 
he got behind, and cut off its supplies, so that it had to 
surrender. In that wonderful march he fought ten battles and 
lost thirty thousand men. 

General Hood, the Confederate commander at Atlanta, 
had to get out of that city in a hurry when Sherman cut off 
his food supply, and he marched off in haste to Tennessee, 
thinking he would serve Sherman in the same way, and force 
him to retreat by cutting his line of supplies. But Sherman 
was not that kind of man. He let Hood go. Marching 
General Thomas, one of the best officers of the Through 
North, was at Nashville, Tennessee, and could Q^®**s»a 
take care of him. Do you wish to know what Thomas did ? 
He whipped Hood's army so completely that there was no 
army left ; it was broken into a thousand pieces and never 
came together again. 

Meanwhile Sherman was making the most brilliant march 
of the whole war. He cut loose from Atlanta, and marched 
onward into Georgia, without troubling himself about sup- 
plies. Georgia was a rich country, and he thought he could 
easily find enough there to feed his army. For a whole 
month he and his army were lost. No one in the North 
knew anything about them. They seemed swallowed up like 
Pharoah's army in the Red Sea. Then, just before Christmas, 
they came to the coast at the city of Savannah, and sent the 
glad news North. They had marched in safety through the 
heart of the South. 

You must see now that the war was near its end. The 
South had done its best but was too weak to do much more. 
From Savannah Sherman marched to North Carolina through 
the very centre of the seceded States. He may have been 
coming to Grant's help, but Grant did not need him, for in 
April, 1865, he got round the rear of Lee's earthworks and 



138 THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA 

Richmond lay open before him. Lee and his army could do 
no more. They marched in haste away, but Grant followed 
in greater haste still, and on April 9th General Lee was forced 
to surrender, with his army, to his great antagonist. The long 
and dreadful war was at an end. 

It was a great war, the greatest of the century after the 
wars of Napoleon. What bad and what good came of it? 
Well, there was bad enough — bloodshed and ruin, and burn- 
ing of towns, and tearing up of railroads, and sinking of 
ships, and all the terrors which war brings about. But there 
was good also, for some great questions were settled, and will 
not trouble us again. 

We know that the question of slavery was the real cause 
of the war. But the immediate cause of it was the secession 
of the South and the firing on Fort Sumter. President Lin- 



'& 



Slavery the 



coin said he w^as fighting to save the Union 



^ f w r ^^^ ^^ ^^^P ^^ slaves, and he took good care 

not to interfere with slavery until he saw that it 
was giving strength to the South. Then he wrote a declara- 
tion of the freedom of the slave, and when he signed his 
name to that great document he touched the true cause of the 
war. If the North succeeded the slaves would be free. 

When we look back on the Civil War we see that two 
great good things came from it. It gave freedom to the slaves 
and strength to the Union. Every one says this now. North 
and South alike, for the South has learned that slavery did it 
more harm than good, and would not have it to-day at any 
price. And North and South alike are proud of the Union 
which the war made so strong, and which has enabled the 
United States to take its place as one of the greatest and 
most powerful nations of the world. 



CHAPTER XVII 



The Battle of the Ironclads and the 
Birth of the New Navy 




OOM ! went the great guns. Crash ! went the 
mighty balls. The waters spouted up as if a 
herd of whales were at play when the huge shells 
plunged into their depths. The most wonder- 
ful battle the great ocean had ever seen was 
going on in Hampton Roads, the lower part of Chesapeake 
Bay. Two queer-looking vessels, both of them covered with 
thick plates of iron, had come together, and were battering at 
one another at a terrible rate. 

No such vessels had ever been seen before. One of them 
was like a great floating house with a sloping roof And this 
roof was covered with thick bars of iron, out of which, on both 
sides, peeped the black muzzles of great guns. 
The other was twice as odd. Nearly all that yg^ggis 
could be seen of it was a long, flat, iron deck, 
rising only a foot or two out of the water. In the middle of 
this was a barrel-shaped afl'air of thick iron, twenty feet wide 
and nine feet high, with port holes for two mighty guns. 

They who saw this queer craft called it a "cheese box on 
a raft," and that is very much what it looked like. But instead 
of cheese, it held men and cannon and powder and balls, and 
was a wonderful fighting machine, the strangest that any man 
had ever seen. 

139 



I40 THE FIRST IRONCLADS AND THE NEW NA VY 

The first mentioned of these odd craft was named the 
*' Merrimac." It was an old navy vessel, which the Confederates 
at Norfolk had roofed over and plated with iron bars. The 
other, called the "Monitor," had been built for the North at 
New York by a Swedish inventor named John Ericsson. 
And here they both were, ready to do battle for the North 
and the South. It was now the 8th of March, 1862. 

On the previous day the "Merrimac" had come into 
Hampton Roads and found nothing there but a number of 
old-fashioned wooden war vessels, of the kind which had been 
used everywhere up to that time. One of these it sunk, and 
another was set on fire and blown up. The next morning it 
came out to destroy the rest of them. But this 

of iron=ciads ^^^^ ^°^ ^^ ^^^^ ^ j^^' ^"^^ there lay the "Moni- 
tor," like little David waiting for big Goliath. 
And instead of flinging pebbles at the giant, it was ready to 
hurl great iron balls, eleven inches in diameter. This giant, 
you see, had an iron forehead, and it would take something 
heavier than a pebble to do him any harm. 

And now began a terrible battle. The "Merrimac" had 
ten guns, but they were not nearly so large as the two of 
the "Monitor." The huge monster steamed up and fired all 
the guns on one side at the little craft. Likely enough the 
Confederate captain thought he would send the cheese box 
to the bottom, but it shook off" his balls as if they had been 
fired from a pea-shooter. Most of them plunged into the 
water of the bay and did not touch the " Monitor" at all. 

That was not the way with the balls of the " Monitor." 
She had a big mark to shoot at and could not easily miss. 
And her great iron globes, nearly a foot through, made the 
huge ship tremble and reel when they struck her sturdy sides. 
But none of them went through. The iron was too thick 
for that. 



THE FIRST IRONCLADS AND THE NEW NAVY 141 

For three hours these two strange fighting machines 
hammered away at each other. At one time the " Merrimac" 
made a fierce rush at the " Monitor," Hke a mad bull rushing 
at a boy. The captain of the Goliath hoped to force the little 
David down to the bottom of the bay. The huge bow ran up 
on the low deck of the "Monitor" and drove it down deep 
under the waves. But the engines were reversed and the 
" Monitor" slid away backward and came up again, while the 
great antagonist swashed down heavily into the waters of the 
bay. And so it went on, hour after hour, until in the end the 
"Merrimac" left the fight and steamed away. The "Mon- 
itor" let her go. Both of them, I fancy, had all the fighting 
they wanted for that day. But the "Merrimac" ^1,^ Fate of 
had the worst of it and never came back again. "Monitor" and 
They had both fought their first and their last "^^errimac" 
battle ; for soon after, when the Confederates left Norfolk, 
the "Merrimac" was blown up and sank, and the "Monitor" 
ended her career by going to the bottom of the ocean in a 
storm. Like two actors on the stage, they played their part 
and went out of sight behind the scenes. 

Do you wish to know what part it was they had played ? 
I can tell you it was a very important part ; they were leading 
actors in the great drama of war. I have told you about Nel- 
son, the English admiral, and his wonderful victories. Those 
were fought with wooden sailing ships, and with cannon that 
were like popguns beside those used to-day. Then came the 
time of steamships and larger guns But they were wooden 
vessels still, like those which the "Merrimac" sent to the 
bottom in Hampton Roads. When the American Civil War 
broke out the time had come for stronger ships, so the iron- 
coated "Monitor" and "Merrimac" were built And the 
battle about which you have just read was the first ever fought 
between ironclad ships. 



142 THE FIRST IRONCLADS AND THE_ NEW NA VY 

You may be sure that this battle was a useful lesson for 
both the North and the South. Both sides began to build 
ships with iron overcoats. In the West the river steamers 
were covered with iron and ran past the strongest river forts. 
In the East new monitors were built Down South the Con- 
federates built strong ironclads. They had both learned their 
lesson and were making the most of it. 

But you must not think that all the naval battles of the 
war were fought with ironclads. One of the greatest of them 
was fought with the old style ships. Just after the fight be- 
tween the "Monitor" and the "Merrimac" a fleet of wooden 
vessels sailed into the Mississippi River and steamed up stream 
towards New Orleans. It was commanded by Commodore 
Farragut, as great a sailor and bold a fighter as England's 
famous Nelson. I can tell you he had a terrible 
arragu in e ^^^^ before him. The Confederates had built 

Mississippi 

strong forts on both sides of the river, and they 
had stretched an iron chain from bank to bank to hold the 
ships until the forts could sink them. Then they had fire- 
rafts to float down on them, and two great ironclads, one of 
them a ram, which they expected would- crack open the wooden 
vessels like so many egg-shells. But they did not have a 
Farragut, and that made all the difference. 

There has not often been such a battle as that. The 
mortar boats, under Commander Porter, had their masts cov- 
ered with green boughs until they looked like a piece out of 
the forest, and for hours they hurled their great shells into the 
forts two miles away. Day after day this w^as kept up, and 
night after night fire-rafts came blazing and roaring down the 
stream, seeking to burn the fleet. But they were caught and 
run ashore, and left to burn themselves out on the mud. 

After a while the bold Farragut got tired of this. It was 
too slow for him. So one dark night he set out with his 



THE FIRST IRONCLADS AND THE NEW NA VY 143 

wooden vessels up stream. The chain had been broken and 
the river was clear, but the forts and the ships were there, and 
he had the hottest kind of a fight. Through the darkness of 
the night flashed the guns of the forts, and the silence was 
broken by a terrible roar. The fleet replied with all its guns, 
pouring shot and shell into the forts. It seemed like the 
thunder and lightning of a frightful storm. And in the midst 
of it all down came a blazing fire-raft against the " Hartford," 
Farragut's flagship, which was in a moment in a blaze. By 
great good luck they got clear of the raft and put out the 
dangerous flames. 

Then came down the great ram "Manassas" and half 
a dozen of gunboats with iron beaks, and along with them a 
huge iron-clad floating battery, the "Louisiana." It looked 
as if Farragut's fleet w^ould be chopped into mince-meat, but 
things did not turn out that way. Before many 
minutes most of the g^unboats were blazing:, and ^,. ^*!'^L 1, 

c> t>' Night Battle 

the " Manassas " was run ashore in flames, and 
the battle was at an end. It had lasted only an hour and a 
half, but never had there been a fiercer fight for so short a 
time. On up stream went Farragut, and before the day was 
over New Orleans was his. As he went up the stream a fleet 
of steamers and ironclads came floating down, all in flames. 
That night's work made him an admiral. 

This was not the only great victory won by Farragut. 
Two years afterwards he appeared in Mobile Bay with a fleet 
made up of wooden ships and monitors. He had now three 
forts to fight and a great ironclad ram, the "Tennessee." 
And the bottom of the bay was sown thick with torpedoes ; 
one of which exploded under a monitor and tore such a hole 
in its bottom that it went down, with its crew, into the mud. 

But Farragut was not the man to stop for rams or forts. 
He went into the battle tied fast to the rigging of his ship, 



144 ^-^^ FIRST IRONCLADS AND THE NEW NA VY 

with the cannon-balls booming past. He wanted to see, and 
took the chance of being blown into atoms. A man like that 
cannot be beaten. The ram was captured, and the victory 
was his. 

The Confederates, you may well think, did not have much 
luck with their ironclads. They spent a great deal of time 
and money on them, and got very little good in return. But 
they had one vessel which was more lucky. This was the 
privateer "Alabama," which sailed through all seas, and 
captured and burned more than sixty American merchant 
The "Alabama" vessels. It was huutcd cast and west, but it 
and the was not met with until June, 1864, when the 

"Kearsarge" ship-of-war " Kcarsargc " found it in a port of 
France. When the "Alabama" came out there was a fierce 
fight between the two ships, while thousands of people looked 
on from the French coast. In the end the "Alabama" went 
to the bottom and the "Kearsarge" won the victory. Ship- 
owners were glad enough, for that one vessel had destroyed 
more than ten million dollars' worth of ships and cargoes. 

I might go on and on, telling you about battles on the 
coast and in the rivers of the United States, about daring 
runs past batteries and fierce bombardments of forts. But I 
have something else to speak of which seems more important 
just here, and this is that all the nations of the world learned 
a lesson from the sea-fights of the American war. For many 
centuries they had been fighting with wooden ships and little 
guns. Now they saw that the day of iron ships and great 
guns had come, and on all sides they began to throw their 
wooden ships aside and build new vessels covered with thick 
plates of iron or steel, and armed with great breech-loading 
guns, that thought nothing of hurling a heavy cannon-ball for 
seven or eight miles. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



How Japan and China Woke Out of 
Their Long Sleep 




OW let us take a long journey, or a long jump, 
whichever you like best. You must know that 
there are two ways of traveling, by body and by 
mind. When the body travels it has to go by 
train, or by ship, or in some other slow way. 
When the mind travels it can go by lightning express. It 
thinks nothing of making a jump over ten thousand miles. 
As we have a long ways to go in this chapter, and not much 
time to spare, we shall have to do it in the mind, and leave 
the body behind. 

So far you have read only of things that took place in 
Europe and America. But these are not all the world. Out- 
side of them lie the great continents of Asia and Africa, which 
are full of human beings. These are not wide- 
awake people like those of Europe and of our fh^c^T^^ 
own country, but they are not fast asleep, and 
one of these far-off nations has wakened up wonderfully of 
late years. We shall certainly have to see what these dis- 
tant folks were doing in the nineteenth century. 

Those of my youthful readers who live in any of our 
great cities must have seen certain odd-dressed yellow-faced 
persons walking about, or ironing clothes in shops with such 
signs as "Yong Wang," "Sam Ram," and the like. These 
are known as Chinese. They came from a country which has 
nearly 400,000,000 of such people — many more than any 

145 



146 JAPAN AND CHINA 

other country in the world. Why, they are so numerous that 
many millions of them do not live on land at all, but in boats 
on the water. They seem to have been crowded off the shore. 

That country is named China. It takes up much of the 
eastern part of Asia, and fronts on the Pacific Ocean. Out in 
the ocean, some hundreds of miles away from China, are a 
number of islands well filled with people. These islands are 
named Japan. If you will make a leap with me to those 
far-off countries, China and Japan, we will see what was going 
on there in the nineteenth century. 

The people of China and Japan did not like white men. 
They were rather afraid of them, for they had seen something 
of their customs. "These people of Europe think they own 
the earth," they said. " If we let them inside our front door 
they will soon want the whole house. Our ways and our 
religion will not mix with their ways and their 

Locked Doors in i- • i j i ^ i ^ i >- 

rw 3 I relisfion, so we had best keep to ourselves. 

China and Japan o ' r 

They locked their front doors and said to 
the whites who came to call upon them, "You cannot come 
in, we are not receiving visitors." In other words, they 
closed their ports against all foreign ships, and would not let 
any strangers enter their country. 

The white people did not like this. They were not used 
to being shut out. They wanted to send their ships and goods 
to all parts of the. world, and did not care to be turned away 
from the front doors of these two rich countries of the yellow 
folks. And as the century went on, and steamships took the 
place of sailing vessels, and guns grew larger, and they had 
more goods to sell, they began to knock louder at the doors 
of China and Japan. 

It was the United States that first made Japan open her 
door. Her people were very stubborn, but they found the 
Americans more stubborn still. In 1854 Commodore Perry 



JAPAN AND CHINA 147 

sailed into the Bay of Yeddo with an American fleet. The 
Jap^inese were angry and worried when they saw these ships 
where no foreign ships had dared to come before. They tried 
to scare them off. Then they coaxed them to leave. But 
Perry was very determined, and they blustered and coaxed in 
vain. He had come there to make a treaty of commerce, he 
said, and he would not go away without it. The people of 
Japan did not know what was for their own good, and he had 
come to teach them. 

I do not think he said just that, but he talked with them 
and gave them some fine presents and received some fine 
presents in return, and when he sailed away he had the treaty 
in his ship. Japan had opened its door a crack, 
and into this crack the nations bcQ^an to push, ^ ' . , 

•^ i ' Comes to Japan 

and soon the door was opened its full width. 

That is, the other nations got treaties also, and ships loaded 

with foreign goods were quickly sailing into the ports of Japan. 

That was the beginning of a remarkable event, a com- 
plete revolution in the island empire. Japan did not do 
things by halves. Not only the goods of Europe and America 
were let in, but the new ideas came in with them. The civili- 
zation of the West made its way Vv^ith the most surprising 
rapidity into this old land. Books, industries, inventions, 
were all gladly received. Telegraph lines were built, railroads 
were laid, factories sprang up here and there, rifles and can- 
non v/ere bought to arm their soldiers, great steel-clad war- 
ships were built and brought to Japan, and in a very few 
years the whole country was transformed. The island empire 
had been like a tree in March, an empty show of bare boughs ; 
now it was like a tree in May, covered with leaves and blos- 
soms and with splendid promise of fruit. 

The revolution did not stop half way, the very govern- 
ment was overturned. For centuries the emperor of Japan 



148 JAPAN AND CHINA 

had been of no more account than a Christmas doll, and a 
general of the army, called the Tycoon, had ruled the coun- 
try. Now the Mikado, the true emperor, came to the head 
again, and down to his proper place went the Tycoon. And 
that is not all. In 1889 the emperor gave up his absolute 
power and told the people they might have a Congress in 
which they could make their own laws. Every man over 
twenty-five was given the right to vote. That was the most 
wonderful thing of all. So far as I know it is the only time 
in all history that an absolute monarch gave up his autocratic 
power of his own free will and invited his people to make 
laws for themselves. 

Never before, indeed, had any country made such a 
remarkable stride forward. Fifty years ago Japan was like 
Europe in the dark ages. Now it is one of the most active 
and wide-awake countries in the world, with its free govern- 
ment, its railroads, its telegraphs, its schools and universities, 
its powerful fleet and army, its rich commerce and all that 
makes a nation great ; and to-day, when we talk of the lead- 
ing nations of the world, we never forget to name Japan. 

Now let us take a look at China, with its great country 
and its vast numbers of people. There we find a different 
story to tell. The Chinese were as obstinate as the Japanese 
and they VvTre a great deal prouder. They were proud of 
their old ways, their old books, their old religion and govern- 
ment and laws, and thought that all the world 
^j^j^^ had nothing half so good. The nations of 

Europe and America were mere children beside 
China, which had been an old nation ages before they were 
thought of. The idea of these young upstarts coming to 
teach new things to a gray-haired nation which had been rich 
in learning thousands of years before they were born ! Such 
a thing was too ridiculous to be thought of 



JAPAN AND CHINA 149 

That is the way China looked at it, and that is the reason 
it did not take up the civilization of the West as readily as 
Japan. Its people were too proud and too self-satisfied. But 
for all that it could not keep out the nineteenth century. No, 
indeed ! no part of the earth except the north and south poles 
has been able to keep out the pushing nineteenth century. 

England was the first of the nations to get into China, 
where she obtained a foothold more than two centuries ago. 
What she wanted was trade, and she tried a very bad kind of 
trade, for her ships carried opium to China, just as in later 
times rum has been carried to Africa. The 

r r-y ■ i- i i -i i • ^ • The Opium War 

emperor 01 Chma did not like this. Opium 
was a bad thing for his people, who lost their senses from 
smoking this dangerous drug. So he gave orders that all 
the opium in Canton should be seized and destroyed, and 
^20,000,000 worth of the drug was thrown into the river. 

This made the English furious. They sent their war- 
ships to China and began what is called the '* Opium War." 
England was in the wrong, as it often has been ; but in war 
the wrong often prevails, if it has the best guns ; so China 
was defeated and had to open five ports to the w^orld's com- 
merce, and give up to England the large city and fine port of 
Hong Kong. This was the first step in the opening of China. 
Twenty years afterwards another war broke out, in which the 
British and the French joined. In i860, they marched to 
Peking, the capital of China, forced it to open its gates, and 
burned the emperor s summer palace, one of the finest build- 
ings in the whole land. Then more of China was opened to 
the world's trade. 

In this way the door of China has been opened ; a little 

at a time ; now a small crack and now a larger crack. It was 

not flung open all at once, like the door of Japan, and it is 

far from being wide open yet. In fact, the Chinese are doing 
10 



I50 JAPAN AND CHINA 

their best to shut it again, but I fancy they will not succeed. 
It is something like trying to shut the gates of a mill-race 
against a flood. 

Little by little foreign things crept in. In 1876, a rail- 
road was built a few miles long. The emperor did not like 
it, but he was afraid to deal with it as he had with the opium. 
He took a safer plan ; he bought the road, tore up the rails, 
and stored them away. The next year a telegraph line was 
built. That was not torn up, and now there are many miles 
of telegraph in China. Since then, some more 
,!...^ ^"'"^ railroads have been laid, but the Chinese do 

of China ' 

not like the iron horse, and they have not 
much more than a sample of railroad yet. The only way in 
which they have gone ahead is in buying steamboats for their 
rivers, and ironclad ships for their navy, and rifles for their 
soldiers. What they want is not to accept civilization but to 
fight off civilization. 

War has a wonderful power in waking up a nation. When 
you come to read much of history you will learn the truth of 
this. There are some nations which nothing but the boom of 
the cannon and the crack of the rifle can rouse from their long 
sleep, and China is one of them. Japan did not need war for 
this purpose. As soon as its people saw how great a thing 
civilization is, they took hold of it with a mighty grip. But 
China saw nothing in it but a nuisance and a trouble, and 
took it in only at the cannon's mouth. I think there are 
times when all of us are tired of learning something new and 
want to be let alone with what we have, and that is the way 
it was with China. 

Now I must speak of China's greatest war of the cen- 
tury, one that took place in 1894, only a few years ago. I 
may call this the "great awakening," for it gave the sleeping 
empire a very hard shake. This war was with Japan, and 



JAPAN AND CHINA 151 

came out of a quarrel about a kingdom to the north, called 
Corea, which was like a bone that was being fought for by 
two dogs. 

China was like a great mastiff and Japan like a small- 
sized bull-dog; or one was a great barnyard fowl and the 
other like a little game-cock. No doubt, the rulers of China 
thought they would make short work of this impudent little 
island empire, whose people were of the same race as them- 
selves, and not of that terrible white race. They 
mie^ht have done so forty years before, but ^n^^^^^\^, 

^ J J ^ China at War 

Japan had now an army of well-drilled and 
well-armed soldiers, trained in the newest ideas, and it made 
short work of the sleepy colossus. The bull-dog got its teeth 
in the throat of the mastiff, and soon shook all the fight out 
of it. In a very short time little Japan had whipped big 
China ; it might have tried to swallow it if it had not been so 
very large. 

Suppose the United States had been beaten in the war 
with Spain ; what would we have thought ? Would not we 
have come to the conclusion that we were far behind the age, 
and that it was time we were learning something new ! Some 
such notion as this seems to have come into the great, slow 
brain of China. It had been thoroughly whipped by a little 
nation of its own kind. It was clear enough that it had a good 
deal to learn, and that it must give up some of its stubborn 
pride and go to school to the world if it did not want to be 
divided up between the nations as Africa has been. 

If any of you read the newspapers closely you will know 
that the lesson was not lost in China. Railroads were no 
longer forbidden ; they began to make their way through the 
" Celestial Kingdom." Steamboats ploughed the waters for 
a thousand miles up the great Kiang River. Foreign engi- 
neers began to work the rich coal and iron mines. Factories 



152 JAPAN AND CHINA 

sprang up in the foreign settlements, with the best modern 
machinery. Foreign books were translated and read. Mis- 
sionaries taught the people in hundreds of places. The 
ambassadors of the nations were admitted to Peking and 
received in open audience by the emperor. China was giving 
way to the pressure of the world, and letting the light of 
science and invention in. 

But it was only the most advanced thinkers of China 
who saw the benefit of this. The great masses of the people 
were full of ignorance and prejudice, and hated the white 
people bitterly. The best name they had for them was " for- 
eign devils." Suddenly, in the year 1900, there came a 
terrible outbreak. A great secret society of the people, called 

the "Boxers," rose and began murdering the 
Outbreak whites whcrcver they could find them. They 

entered Peking in multitudes, and many of the 
soldiers joined them in a bloodthirsty attack on the envoys of 
the foreign powers. Never had such a thing happened be- 
fore, and all the great nations of the world sent soldiers to 
China to prevent a terrible crime. These formed an army 
which moved to Peking and rescued the ministers, but they 
had to fight hard to get there, and the old nation was stirred 
up as never before. In this way China came to the end of 
the century. 



CHAPTER XIX 



South Africa and the Boer War 




N the last chapter we made a long jump, all 
together, hand in hand, from the United States 
across the great Pacific Ocean to far-off China 
and Japan. Now we have as long a jump to 
make, from those countries to the lower end of 
Africa, where that continent gets narrow and pushes itself far 
down into the southern ocean. 

The story of Africa is a very interesting one. In 1800 
we knew hardly anything about it. Men called it the *' Dark 
Continent." It was in a double way the land of midnight. In 
the first place most of its people had faces as 

111 • 1 • 1 ^ 1-^1 J 1 -i. What We Know 

black as midnight, and m the second place it ^bout Africa 
seemed as dark inside as a house is when we 
go into it at twelve o'clock at night. There may be people 
in the house, as there were in Africa, but if there are no lights 
it might as well be empty for all that we can make out. 

In 1900 we knew a great deal about Africa. Daring 
travelers had gone into it and through it. They had crossed 
it from east to west and from north to south, and maps had 
been made showing its rivers and lakes, its mountains and 
plains, its countries and towns, and other things we look for 
in our atlases. In another chapter I shall tell you something 
about these travelers. Here I am going to speak of something 
that took place after the country had become well known, and 
Africa was a dark continent no longer. 

X53 



154 SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BOER WAR 

It was first discovered and then it was divided up between 
various nations. England and France and Germany and 
Portugal claimed to own orreat districts of it. In the far south 
was a large English province named Cape Colony. And 
north of this was a Dutch settlement known as the Transvaal 
Republic. At the very end of the century a war broke out 
here between the English and the Dutch, and it is this war 
that I am now going to tell you about. 

The Dutch went to South Africa almost as long ago as the 
English went to America. They were there as early as 1650, 
and in the years that followed they spread far over the coun- 
try, planting farms and raising cattle, and liv- 
The Dutch in • ^^^^^^^ ^jj^^ ^^^ patriarchs of Bible times. 

South Africa ^ ^ 

There was one bad thing they did, they made 
slaves of the people of the country. In those days white men 
seemed to think that black men had no right to liberty and 
were born to work for them. 

Now we must 'go forward until after the year 1800, the 
time of the Napoleonic wars. When Napoleon was overthrown 
and the nations of Europe began to divide up his great empire 
among themselves, England took South Africa as part of her 
share. Ships were sent down there, soldiers were landed, 
forts were built, and the Dutch settlers were told that they 
no longer were citizens of Holland, their native land, but that 
England had become their master. 

In the newspapers nowadays you may see a good deal 
said about the Boers. This word means peasants ; it was 
the name given to the settlers in South Africa and which they 
still bear. So I shall call them Boers instead of Dutch — for 
they were not all Dutch, many of them being French. 

The Boers did not like the English and their ways. The 
English said they must give up their slaves, and this they did 
not want to do. And they had been their own masters so 



SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BOER WAR i55 

long that they wanted to be so still. Thus it was that, in 
1840, a large party of them gave up their farms, harnessed 
their great ox-teams, and setoff to "trek" up country in 
search of a new home. Africa is a big continent, and they 
thought they could find some place in it where they could 
live free from English rule. 

Away up north they went, many long and weary miles, 
and in time they came to a country with which they were very 
much pleased. It was a lofty plain, from 4000 to 7000 feet 
above the sea, and never had they seen a land so full of game. 
Beautiful, swift antelopes of many kinds were there by the 
millions. Down in the lower lands there were multitudes of 
giraffes and zebras and buffaloes and elephants. 
The Boers were very fond of hunting" and they r^^^ *" , 

-^ . Transvaal 

beheld these swarms of animals with delight. 
There were lions, too, but the bold hunters were not afraid 
of them. Besides this, it seemed a splendid country to raise 
cattle in, so they unharnessed the oxen from their great 
wagons and let them run loose. Here they would make 
their new home, far away from those troublesome English, 
who wanted to be the lords of the earth. 

The Boers soon found that they had other uses for their 
rifles than to shoot the wild animals. There were men there, 
fierce tribes of natives, the old owners of the land, who had 
no notion of being driven away. Soon there was bloody 
fighting going on. The negroes attacked the whites, and the 
whites fought the negroes, and many were killed on both 
sides ; but new Boers kept coming, and in the end the natives 
were driven out and the new comers took the country for 
their own. 

After all the fighting was over two Boer republics were 
formed. One of them lay between the Orange and the Vaal 
Rivers, and was named the Orange River Free State. The 



156 SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BOER WAR 

Other lay north of the Vaal River and was named the Transvaal 
Republic. The country was not good for farming but it was 
excellent for grazing, so they built themselves homes and set 
their cattle free to feed on the rich grasses, and soon they had 
abundant herds and lived in a simple, quiet, happy way, 
spending their time in attending to their cattle and hunting 
wild game. 

The Boers thought they were now free from the English, 
but in that they made a great mistake. The English were 
moving after them, step by step. They had built a city in the 
old Boer country which they called Capetown, and they kept 
pushing farther north into the district they 
The Boer named Cape Colony. Others of them sailed 

Republics ^ •' 

up the coast and took possession of part of the 
country which the Boers had settled, and called it Natal. 
Every year they were getting nearer, and at length a remark- 
able thing took place which brought them into that region by 
thousands. Diamonds were found in the country west of the 
Boer republics. 

You know how a magnet draws iron. In much the same 
way diamonds and gold draw white men. Diamond hunters 
came in multitudes and began digging for the shining stones. 
The Boers did not like these neighbors and the negroes did 
not like them any better. A warlike tribe of natives, called 
the Zulus, began fighting with the whites and got well 
whipped for their pains. Then, in 1877, the English made an 
excuse to march into the Transvaal and claim it for their 
own. So the Boers had not kept very long out of England's 
hands. 

You may be sure the bold Boers were angry at this. 
They hated the English and did not like being taxed by them, 
but they bore it all with stern and sullen faces until the year 
1880, when they seized their well-tried muskets, gathered into 



SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BOER WAR 157 

companies, and decided to try and drive the strangers from 
their land. And they soon did so. Everywhere that they met 
the EngHsh they whipped them. At a place called Majuba Hill 
they gave them a terrible defeat. That ended the war. The 
British were driven out of the country. Mr. Gladstone, who 
was then prime minister, said that they had no right there and 
told them to leave. Mr. Gladstone was a just man and did 
not think that one country had the right to take possession of 
another, even if one was large and the other small. But the 
time was soon to come when England would have men at its 
head with different views. 

You see what came from the diamond mines. Not long 
afterwards a stronger magnet than the diamond was found. 
The dangerous metal gold was discovered, not outside, but 
inside the Transvaal Republic. Mines were 
opened which in time proved to be the richest q'^^^" ^ ^" 
in the world, and miners came from all parts of 
the world, but mostly from England, and settled in the Trans- 
vaal, where they built a great miners' city, named Johannes- 
burg. This grew until it had more than 100,000 inhabitants. 

If you have read the history of gold, you know that noth- 
ing in all the ages has made so much trouble for mankind. 
The poor Boers soon found that their gold was likely to prove 
a curse. The strangers in Johannesburg said that, as they lived 
in the country and paid taxes there, they ought to have some 
say in its government. This the Boers did not want to give 
them, for they were so many that they would soon outvote 
them and get possession of their land by the aid of ballots 
instead of bullets. So Paul Kruger, the president, and the 
Transvaal Congress, said that tfiey should not become citizens 
until they had lived there for many years. 

After that trouble came fast. An ambitious man named 
Cecil Rhodes had become chief owner of the diamond mines, 



158 SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BOER WAR 

and had conquered the country north of the Transvaal, which 
was now fast filhng up with EngHsh settlers. Then, in 1895, 
he sent a party down to stir up a rebellion in Johannesburg 
and help the gold miners to take possession of the country. 
He made a big blunder in this. The men who fought at 
Majuba Hill were still alive, and in a little time they took all 
of Cecil Rhodes' men prisoners and locked them up in jail. 
So this bad scheme came to a proper end. 

All went well for the owners of the Transvaal until 1899, 
when new trouble came, all through that pestilent gold. The 
gold miners in Johannesburg said that they were oppressed by 
Paul Kruger and his government, and demanded the right to 
help make the laws under which they lived. The British 
government took part in this dispute, and told the Boers that 
they ought to give the miners some rights in the country. 
That was the political way of putting it. When 

The Transvaal t i ^i u i • ^ r ^u /^ i • 

p J Joseph Chamberlam, secretary lor the Colonies 

said that they ought to, he meant that they 
must, and that if they did not he would make them. Every 
day the dispute grew hotter. While the commissioners 
were trying to decide how many years foreigners should live 
in the country before they could become members of its Con- 
gress, both sides were preparing for war, and British soldiers 
were on shipboard sailing for South Africa. Paul Kruger said 
this should not go on, and he gave Great Britain just one day 
to order back its soldiers or fight. As no attention was paid 
to his words, he declared war on October 11, 1899. 

Likely enough this is what the government of Great 
Britain wanted. Chamberlain and his fellows thought they 
would make short work of the Transvaal and sweep it off the 
map of the world. They did not find this quite so easy. The 
people of the two Boer republics joined their forces and sent 
troops into Natal on the east and Cape Colony on the west, 



SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BOER WAR 159 

Wherever they met the British they drove them back, and 
soon had them shut up in the three towns of Ladysmith, 
Kimberley, and Mafeking. 

The British tried to drive them away from those towns, 
but they found that far from easy. The sieges went on for 
months, and whenever the armies met the British were 
defeated. It was not the trifling little job they had calculated 
on. Then England woke up and saw that it 
had a bief war on its hands. Men and horses ^ ®,. t ^ *" 

^ South Africa 

and cannon and guns were gathered from all 
sides. Money was spent like water ; Canada and Australia 
sent troops to Africa ; Lord Roberts, the best general Great 
Britain had, was put in command. The ocean swarmed with 
ships carrying men and supplies to the south. 

The poor Boers were overwhelmed. The country seemed 
alive with British soldiers. The Boers fought bravely still but 
could not stand against these hosts. Back they went, step by 
step. They were forced to retreat from the three towns under 
siege. The Orange River Free State was overrun. Then 
Johannesburg, the city of gold, and Pretoria, the Boer capital, 
were occupied. The Boer army broke up and began a guerilla 
war. The case now was hopeless. The few brave Boers 
could not stand against this mighty British army. The career 
of the Boer republics was at an end. They might fight on 
for a little while, but they were sure soon to be swept into 
the great net of the British empire, and Cape Colony was 
destined to spread until it covered all South Africa except the 
regions held by Germany and Portugal. Great Britain had 
become the greatest power in Africa. 



CHAPTER XX 



Livingstone and Stanley, the Great 
African Travelers 




The British 
Explorers 



PROMISED at the beginning of the last chapter 
to tell you about some of the great travelers who 
made Africa known to us. I think it is every- 
body's duty to keep their promises, and the best 
way to keep a promise is to do so as soon as 
we can, for fear we may forget it. So I shall keep my promise 
right away, while it is fresh in my memory. 

We owe what we know about the Dark Continent to a 
great many travelers. Some of these were very bold and 
daring. They started from the coast and went far inland, 
among fierce and savage tribes. Many of them 
suffered from hunger and thirst and were worn 
out with toil. Some died of the dangerous 
diseases of the country. Some were killed by the warlike 
people. But others kept going, like brave soldiers marching 
into the country of an enemy, and in time Africa was very 
well known. 

Most of these famous men came from England and 
Scotland. I have told you already that the British people 
have been the most enterprising of all the nations. At the 
very opening of the century a brave British traveler named 
Mungo Park went far into Africa, along the great Niger River. 
Poor fellow ! he went too far and dared too much and was 
killed by some of the fierce natives. Before him was another 

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LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY i6i 

famous man named James Bruce, who went deep into 
Abyssinia, till he came to what he thought were the head- 
waters of the River Nile. It was what is now called the Blue 
Nile, not the great Nile. In later years there were many 
other celebrated and daring travelers, some of them French 
and German, but most of them British. Among these brave 
men the most famous were the two named Livingstone and 
Stanley. 

Let us go on now to the middle of the century, and see 
what was known of Africa at that time. If you should have 
the opportunity to look at a map of that continent made in 
1850, you would perceive a blank space covering the whole 
broad interior. Park and Bruce, and the others Mungo Park 
vv'ho followed them, did not go far inland, and and 
the world knew almost nothing of what lay James Bruce 
hidden in that vast land until Livingstone and Stanley made 
their wonderful journeys and told the world the strange story 
of their travels. 

David Livingstone was born in Scotland, in which country 
Mungo Park and James Bruce had also been born. The 
Soctch people ought to be proud that the first three of the great 
African travelers were sons of their soil. Livingstone went 
to South Africa in i84d, as a missionary. He had no thought 
of making discoveries, and only thought of teaching the 
natives the lofty doctrines of Christianity, and persuading them 
to give up their idols and forget their superstitions. He was 
in that part of Africa, of which we hear so much in these days, 
the land of gold and diamonds, and of the wars of the Zulus, 
the British and the Boers. For years he kept on teaching, 
but at length he made up his mind that it was his duty to 
become a pioneer, to go deeper into the country, open up new 
fields of labor, and leave the work he had been doing to those 
who came after him. 



1 62 LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY 

It was in the year 1849 th^^^ the daring missionary set 
out on his first journey of discovery. Far to the north spread 
an unknown land, in which lay a sparkling body of water, 
Lake Ngami, of which the natives had told, but which no 
white man had ever seen. To reach it he would have to 
cross the broad and bleak Kalahari Desert, where there was 
danger of dying of thirst. No fear of this stopped the daring 
traveler. Northward he went, and with him 
D^scovered^' went two English sportsmen, Mr. Oswell and 
Mr. Murray. Their purpose was to fight and 
kill strange animals, his purpose was to discover new lands 
and strange peoples, and find fresh fields for teaching the 
Christian faith. The sportsmen were good companions and 
could supply meat for the party. On the ist of August their 
glad eyes fell on the broad sheet of gleaming water which they 
had set out to find, and Livingstone's first discovery was made. 

Twice again, in 1850 and 1851, our traveler set out for 
the same country, now taking with him his wife and children. 
In 1 85 1, after reaching the lake, he and Mr. Oswell went 
several hundred miles into the north country, and at length 
came to the shores of a bright and broad river, which they 
found sweeping in a swift and noble current through the 
centre of the country. It was the Zambesi, the great river of 
South Africa, which ran into the Indian Ocean far to the east- 
ward, where its lower waters had long been known. 

Do you not think, if you had been David Livingstone, 
and had before you that mighty land which no white man had 
ever gazed upon, and whose wonders the world was eager to 
know, you would have desired to plunge deeper into it and 
spend years, as he did, in exploring its mysteries ? He had 
seen so much now that he wanted to see more, and the next 
twenty years of his life were passed in the heart of that mys- 
terious continent. Some day you may read in his own 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY 163 

books the story of his wonderful adventures and discoveries, 
but here I can give you only an outline sketch of them. 

In 1852, Livingstone sent his family to England and set 
out on one of the greatest journeys of his life. He went north 
from Capetown to the Zambesi River, and from there set out 
on a long journey through strange lands to the far northwest. 
A terrible time he had of it among the wild natives who had 
never seen a white face, and with fever and hunger to rob him 
of strength, but in the end he reached the At- 
lantic coast at the Portuo^uese town of St. Paul '^'"^^ ®"® 

'^ Crosses Africa 

de Loanda, having gone through hundreds of 
miles of unknown land. That journey would have been 
enough for most men, but it was not half enough for Living- 
stone, and after a few months' rest he plunged back again, 
like a man sailing into an unknown ocean. This time he did 
what no man had ever done before, he crossed the whole con- 
tinent of Africa, and came out, looking more like a ghost 
than a man, on the shores of the Indian Ocean. 

He had made one great discovery, the splendid cataract 
of the Zambesi River, which he named the Victoria Falls, 
giving it the name of the English Queen. Have you ever read 
an account of this mighty cataract ? Only the Falls of Niagara 
surpass it in grandeur. There is a broad crack in the earth, 
into whose depths the great river plunges with the roar of a 
mighty storm, while from it rises a cloud of smoke-like mist. 

The bold traveler had been four years on this journey, 
and was so worn out that he had to go home to England to 
rest. He had traveled north for 1,700 miles, and then crossed 
the country from ocean to ocean, a thing which no man had 
ever done before ; and his discoveries had been so many and 
so great that the highest people of England went wild over 
him. I fancy he did not get all the rest he came for. When 
a man becomes famous the world will not let him rest. 



ms/mmmmami 



i64 LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY 

At any rate he was soon off again, for there were other 
discoveries to be made. In 1858 he went back to Africa, 
and this time made his way inland to the great lake Nyassa, 
which was another of his discoveries. Here he stayed for 
several years, exploring the country around. His wife had 
come with him, but the hardships of the country proved too 
much for thc^ poor woman, who died in one of his journeys. 
He went back to England sad and alone in 1864. 

Livingstone now hoped to spend the remainder of his 

life in quiet and repose ; but the scientists of England were 

not satisfied, they wanted to know more about Africa, and 

they pestered him till he agreed to go back. 

ivingone e- j^_^ 1866 he landed in Africa ae:ain and set out 

turns to Airica o 

inland for Lake Nyassa. From its shores he 
started north for the great Lake Tanganyika, which had been 
discovered by two English travelers several years before. 

For five years after that nothing was known of the great 
traveler. He vanished from sight. No one knew what had 
become of him. He might be still alive, he might have died 
of fever or starvation, he might have been killed and eaten by 
cannibals. What had become of him became one of the great 
questions of the day. Not until 1871 was the mystery of his 
fate made clear. 

In that year Henry M. Stanley, a daring newspaper cor- 
respondent, was sent out by the owner of the " New York 
Herald," who telegraphed to him across the ocean the two 
words " Find Livingstone." Stanley was just the man for 
this work. He was young, strong, bold, fond of adventure, 
and afraid of nothing. He did not go alone, like Livingstone, 
but with a strong band, well armed with guns. Livingstone 
had traveled like a Christian, making friends of the people as 
he went ; Stanley traveled like a soldier, prepared to fight his 
way if he must. 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY 165 

He was not long in finding the lost traveler. He came 
upon him at Ujiji, a negro town on the northern shore of 
Lake Tanganyika. Far and wide the aged missionary had 
gone through Central Africa, finding many lakes and streams 
and many strange tribes and having many marvelous things 
to tell. His most important discovery was the great Lualaba 
River, which he believed to be the headwaters 
of the miorhty River Nile. His years of travel , .^" ^^^" '" 

^ / -^ Livingstone 

had worn him away to a shadow, and he was, 
as Stanley said, "a ruck of bones." But he would not give 
up his work. Back into the country he went, and kept up 
his life of travel until the ist of May, 1873. On that day he 
was found by his men dead in his tent, kneeling by the side 
of his bed. Thus perished in prayer the greatest traveler of 
modern times. 

Livingstone was not alone in his work. Other travelers 
were now pushing into Africa from all directions, and one by 
one the long hidden secrets of that "Dark Continent" were 
made known. But the greatest of African travelers after 
Livingstone was Stanley, and I must tell you of what he did 
after he found Livingstone. 

In 1874 he began one of the most remarkable explora- 
tions ever made. Plunging deeply into the country, he trav- 
eled around the great lakes Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika, 
and then went westward to the Lualaba, which Livingstone 
had thought to be the Nile. Stanley was determined to find 
out for himself whither this river ran. He had with him a 
large number of armed men and was not afraid of the tribes 
of man-eaters of whom he was told. Starting in boats down 
the broad stream, the party of travelers went for hundreds of 
miles through the heart of Africa, fighting their way through 
the cannibals and having a thousand difficulties to overcome. 
It was a terrible journey, but nothing could stop Stanley, and 



i66 LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY 

the stream led him at length to the shores of the Atlantic. 
He found that it was not the Nile, as Livingstone had 
thought, but the Congo, a great river which had never before 
been explored. 

The whole world was excited by the story which Stanley 
had to tell, of the broad, high plain of Central Africa, a 
thousand miles wide and watered by hundreds of streams, all 
sending their waters to the mighty Congo. It was soon 
decided to form a settlement in this wonderful new land, and 
Stanley was sent back in 1879 to found the Congo Free 
State, a splendidly watered and fertile country containing 
nearly one million square miles of territory. 

I have not told you the whole story of Stanley's adven- 
tures. He had another great journey to make, this time to 
•' find Emin Pasha," another man lost in Africa. Emin was in 
the Upper Nile, near the Albert Nyanza Lake. 
an ey oes o ^^^ j^^^ been Sent by Eo^ypt to o^overn that 

Rescue Emin y t>7 r & 

province, but had been cut off by the great 
outbreak of the Arabs, under their prophet the Mahdi, and 
for years nothing had been known of his fate. In 1887 
Stanley set out to find and rescue him. 

This time our enterprising traveler had a new country to 
cross. He made his way up the Congo for thirteen hundred 
miles and then left that stream and plunged into the unknown 
country to the northeast. Never had there been a more 
dangerous and toilsome journey. Far and wide spread an 
immense forest, that seemed almost to have no end. The 
people who dwelt in it were mostly what are known as Pyg- 
mies, dwarf-like creatures, who are found in many of the 
African forests. Great were the difficulties, the hardships, the 
perils of the way ; but greater was the spirit of the traveler, 
and he kept on through the dense wood until he met the lost 
Emin on the shores of Albert Nyassa Lake, as he had for- 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY 167 

merly met the lost Livingstone on the shores of Lake Tan- 
ganyika. Three times Stanley crossed that terrible forest, for 
he had to go back for the men and supplies left behind him, 
and then go forward to Emin again. Then he kept on across 
the continent to Zanzibar, bringing Emin back to civilization 
and safety. In this way he made a second crossing of the 
continent. 

I can give you the names and might give you the stories 
of many other African travelers — Cameron, Barth, Grant, Bur- 
ton, Baker, and a dozen more — but greatest of them all were 
the two I have named : Livingstone, the missionary explorer, 
who made his way by the arts of peace and gentleness, and 
Stanley, the soldierly explorer, who fought his way through 

cannibal hordes by the arts of force and daring. 

T-i J i.1- 1- Ti. i-u u Other African 

They, and those who came after them, nave j^aveiers 
lifted the cloud that so long lay over Africa, and 
no one now calls that country the " Dark Continent." After 
the traveler came the soldier and the settler, and to-day all 
that is worth owning of the country is claimed by the nations 
of Europe ; the steamboat is on its central rivers, and the 
railroad is fast making its way into the far interior. Africa, a 
deep mystery for thousands of years, became in the nineteenth 
century the prize of the world. 



CHAPTER XXI 



Discoveries in the Sea of Ice 




F any of my young readers, in the pursuit of 
knowledge, should enter one of the large public 
libraries now to be seen in all our great cities, 
and go to. the shelves devoted to books of travel 
and discovery, he will find himself at a loss 
where to choose among the hundreds of bulky volumes, and 
cannot help wondering at the number of men who have 
endured toil and hardship in distant lands in search of the 
new and strange. And he will wonder more when he per- 
ceives that nearly all these books were wTitten in the nine- 
teenth century, which has been the great century in travel as 
in almost everything else. 

There were great discoveries of new lands in former 
times, such as the discovery of America by Columbus and of 
the coast of Africa by the Portuguese. But during the nine- 
teenth century men have gone through and through the new- 
found continents and islands, seeking their 
Travekr"^** hidden secrets. Daring travelers have pene- 
trated to the inmost recesses of distant lands, 
climbed the highest mountains, ventured among the most 
savage tribes, studied a thousand regions before unknown, 
and learned more about the marvels of nature and the secrets 
of the earth than had been done in two thousand years before. 
There is no part of the earth where these daring men 
have not gone. They have explored Africa and America, 
Asia and Australia ; have gone over the most dismal deserts 

168 




PASTEUR IN HIS LABORATORY 

The discovery of the mission of the exceedingly minute organisms known as bacteria in producing disease ranks 

among the greatest and most beneficient of our age. By it the art of the physician was first 

raised to the rank of a science. The honor of this discovery belongs to 

Louis Pasteur, the eminent French chemist and biologist. 





DAVID LIVINGSTONE 



HENRY M. STANLEY 




DR. FRITHIOF NANSEN LIEUT. R. E, PEAKY 

GREAT EXPLORERS IN THE TROPICS AND ARCTICS 



DISCOVERIES IN THE SEA OF ICE 169 

and through the most distant islands ; now under the scorch- 
ing sun of the equator and now amid the freezing winds of 
the sea of ice, and a thousand books cannot begin to tell the 
story of what they have seen and learned. Of course, I can- 
not tell you much about this long story, but I trust the 
time will come when you will read many of these books of 
travel and adventure for yourselves. I am sure you will find 
them pleasant and instructive reading. In the last chapter I 
told you something about the greatest of African travelers ; in 
this one it may be well to take a rapid glance at what has 
been done in the frozen seas. 

In the far north, you know, there is ice and snow all the 
year round, and travelers there have endured severe suffering 
and gone through great pain. Ship after ship has gone there, 
some of them trying to find a channel for trading vessels 
around the tops of the continents, but finding only waters 
which the bitter cold had changed into ice as 
hard as a rock. I must give you the names of ^^^^ 
some of these daring men. When you see the 
name of the Hudson River in New York State and of Hud- 
son Bay in Canada, it may remind you of the bold discoverer. 
Captain Henry Hudson, who, three hundred years ago, sailed 
up that river and into that bay. He was not trying to find 
the north pole, but he came within six hundred miles of it as 
long ago as 1607. 

The first man to surpass Hudson was Captain Parry, who 
sailed north in 1827 to the latitude of 82 degrees 40 minutes 
— only a little more than five hundred miles from the north 
pole. But we cannot go far in this story without meeting 
tales of suffering and death. In 1845 Sir John Franklin, a 
bold British sea captain, sailed to the Arctic Ocean to try and 
discover a northwest passage around America. He never 
came again from that dread sea of ice. On the 19th of May 



lyo DISCOVERIES IN THE SEA OF ICE 

his two ships, the "Erebus" and "Terror," were seen by a 
whahng vessel in Melville Bay, and that was the last that was 
ever seen of ships and men. They vanished forever in the 
frozen wastes. Franklin and his bold followers became vic- 
tims to the demon of the North. 

Did no one try to find them ? you ask. Yes, indeed ; 
nobody was ever sought for more diligently. Ship after ship 
was sent out by Lady Franklin and others, until, during the 
next ten years, no less than fifteen expeditions left England 
and America in search of the lost navigator. Some few relics 
were found and the bones of some of the poor 
Searching feUows ; that was all, not a living soul of them 

Parties ' , ^ 

was ever seen again. In 1880 an American, 
Lieutenant Schwatka, found the skeletons of some of these 
unhappy men. After that nobody wanted anything to do with 
the northwest passage. A passage blocked up with Arctic ice 
would have been as hard to traverse as to sail up the Falls 
of Niagara. 

In 1 88 1 another expedition went north that met with ter- 
rible disaster. This was commanded by Lieutenant Greely, 
of the United States army. It was to go as far north as it 
could and make a study of the weather and other conditions 
of the northern seas. Poor fellows ! their ships were frozen 
in, and for three years they were left in a prison of ice. No 
relief came to them and nearly all their food was eaten. At 
last they had to leave their ships and make their way south 
through those terrible seas. They hoped to find food at Cape 
Sabine in Greenland, but not an ounce had been left for 
them, and there they had to stay through a dreadful Arctic 
winter, slowly starving to death. In June, 1884, Commodore 
Schley came with a vessel to their relief He found only six 
of them alive. The rest had died for want of food. These 
six were wasted almost to skeletons. A few days more and 



DISCOVERIES IN THE SEA OF ICE 171 

not one of all that gallant crew would have been alive. Lieu- 
tenant Greely was one of those saved, and he is now at the 
head of the United States Weather Bureau. 

That was dreadful enough, was it not ? I should be glad 
if it was all, but there is another dreadful story to tell. In 
1879 a ship named the "Jeannette," under Commander De 
Long, went to the seas north of Siberia to try and push north 
in that frozen region. But the ice caught the strong ship 
and crushed it as if it had been an eggshell, and the captain 
and crew had to make their way southward in boats. 

The journey was a terrible one. They suffered dreadfully 
from cold and hunger. At length they came to the coast of 
Siberia at the mouth of the great Lena River. Here their food 
gave out, and they had starvation to fight as 
well as the bitter cold. Poor De Long: and all .,. ^. 

o Victims 

the men who came with him died in misery and 
horror. There, on the frozen sands, their bodies were found 
by Engineer Melville, one of their companions. He had 
taken another route, and got south to the Siberian settlements. 

You may see from this that the sea of ice guards its 
secret w^ell ; the demon of the north lies in wait for those 
who venture within its reach. Many others have felt the pinch 
of its claws, but none have suffered as severely as those I have 
named. If I should try to tell the stories of all these bold 
explorers I could fill a book, so I must confine myself to one 
or two more. Of the men who set out to reach the pole, one 
of the most successful was Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, a stalwart and 
daring son of Norway, who set out in 1893 on one of the 
most wonderful voyages ever made. 

Nansen built himself a vessel called the " Fram," which 
was as strong as solid wood and firm iron could make it, and 
was of such a shape that the pressure of the ice would lift it 
up out of danger, and carry it in a sort of ice cradle. He was 



172 DISCOVERIES IN THE SEA OF ICE 

not afraid of being frozen in. That was just what he wanted. 
He thought that there was a great current in the Arctic seas, 
and that if he got the " Fram " in an ice cradle it would be 
carried past the north pole. 

Away went the bold Nanscn and vanished from sight. 
For three years he and his men were lost and no one expected 
ever to see them again. People thought they had met the fate 
of Sir John Franklin and his crew. Then, in 1896, the news 
flashed around the world that Nansen was home again, and 
had been farther north than any man before. 

The story he had to tell was a wonderful one. For 
nearly two years the "Fram" had drifted slowly to the north. 
But it went too slow to suit the impatient spirit of the daring 
Norwegian, and in March, 1895, Nansen left the ship with 
one companion, and with dogs and sleds tried to make a rapid 
How the run over the frozen sea. He got to latitude 

"Fram" Went 86 degrees 14 minutes, less than 300 miles from 
'^^^^^ the pole. But the ice was rough and broken, 

his dogs were dying, and his food was getting low. If he 
hoped to see Europe again he had to turn back. He would 
have done as well to stay in the ship, for it drifted on till only 
about twenty miles south of where he stopped, and then 
turned and made its way safe back to Europe. 

Nansen and Johansen, his companion, got to the coast of 
Franz Joseph Land, where they spent a frightfully cold winter. 
But there were bears and walruses on the ice, and with the 
aid of their rifles they got food to eat. In the spring they 
went south and had the good luck to meet Dr. Jackson, an 
English explorer, who had spent two years on that bleak 
island. You may be sure that the gallant Nansen was glad 
enough to meet a man on that ice-bound shore. When he 
came to Europe he was greeted everywhere as a hero of 
the seas. 



DISCOVERIES IN THE SEA OF ICE 173 

Now I have to tell you the adventures of an American, 
Lieutenant Robert E. Peary, who set out in 1891 to try and 
get to the pole. He landed far up on the Greenland coast, 
and then set out on snow shoes and with dog sleds across the 
north of that great island. Only one man was with him, and 
they journeyed 650 miles across a plain of ice and snow to 
the far northeast coast. Here the ice ended, and there were 
broken stones over which he could not take his sleds. 

The brave Peary made another trial in 1896, with no 
better luck, and in 1898 he set out again, bound to reach the 
pole if it could be done. He was going to stay for years in 
the far north, planting depots of food far apart, 
and so Roino^ north step by step until he could ^^^^ . ^^^^^^ 

^ c> r y r Greenland 

set foot, if possible, on the mysterious pole. 
So far as we know, he had not done so at the end of the 
nineteenth century, and we have nothing to do with the cen- 
tury that came after. 

I shall have to tell you about one more unfortunate 
explorer, who tried to reach the pole in the way an eagle 
would go, through the air. Ships had been tried and sleds 
had been tried, and he thought the best way to get there was 
by balloon. This adventurous man was of Swedish birth and 
named S. A. Andree. He knew a great deal about balloons, 
and he found that he could steer one away from the course of 
the wind by the use of a rubber sail and a drag-rope. So he 
had a strong balloon made, and in the summer of 1897 set 
out with two companions, with warm hopes of being back 
again within a few months with the true story of the pole. 

Poor fellow ! something went wrong with his plans or 
with his balloon. The years passed by and no word came 
from Andree or his comrades. They were looked for far and 
wide, but no trace of them was found. At the end of the 
century they had failed to appear, and no one hoped ever to 



174 DISCOVERIES IN THE SEA OF ICE 

see them again. They had fallen victims to the demon of the 
north and their srory passes into history. 

As the century drew near its end explorers began to turn 
their attention towards the south pole. Nothing was known 
of the Antarctic zone except that it was a region of vast 
icebergs and lofty fields of ice. Vessels had gone there, but 
the frowning ice mountains had warned them 
u , .. all away. Near the end of the century new 

Explorations J J 

vessels went south, hoping in some way to get 
through the frightful barrier of ice. But the century ended 
and nothing new was learned. The mystery of the south 
pole was left as one of the problems of the twentieth century. 

You may see, from what you have just read, that, though 
no one had reached either of the poles of the earth, much had 
been discovered and various new ways of travel tried during 
the nineteenth century. For a long time men tried to get to 
the north pole in sailing vessels. Then steam vessels were 
used. These failed, and near the end of the century a new 
method was adopted, that of forming depots of provisions 
where food could be obtained, and going north from these in 
sledges. 

Food, you know, is now prepared in a condensed form, 
so that a small weight of it will go a long way. And the 
explorers have adopted the Eskimo mode of dressing and find 
it very useful in. keeping out the cold. The daring Peary, 
when he crossed Greenland, did not trouble himself about hut 
or tent, but, in his warm Greenland furs, would creep into his 
sleeping bag, and slumber in comfort on the broad field of 
ice. So. the terrors of the north have largely fled away from 
the feet of intrepid travelers, and the terrors of the south may 
also take to flight* «.* 




CHAPTER XXII 

The Treasures of the Hills 

T is a rich old world we live in. Have any of 
you ever thought how rich it is ? Just think that 
1,200,000,000 people and many more millions 
of animals live on the food which the soil pro- 
duces, and yet we do not raise half the wheat 
and rice and corn and other food stuffs that we might. Think 
also of the great forests and the wonderful variety of woods 
which they contain. And think of the hills and their wealth in 
gold, silver, coal, iron, and a hundred other valuable minerals. 
I might write many chapters on these subjects, but here I 
shall speak only about the treasures of the hills. 

There is nothing new about the art of mining. Gold was 
dug from the earth in the time of Solomon. Iron was mined 
and hammered into sword-blades long before. 
Nearly all the valuable minerals were known ...^. 

■> Mining 

before the nineteenth century began. But great 
beds of them have been found during this marvelous century, 
and the earth has been proved to be ten times as rich as was 
dreamed of in earlier times. 

Some of the greatest of such discoveries were made in 
America, so I must tell you about these. As our people went 
back mile after mile, over hill and plain, cutting down the 
woods and planting the soil, they began to find other things 
worth having than wheat, cotton and corn. In a hundred 
places iron was found in the rocks, and soon mines were 
opened and furnaces began to blaze and roar. The black 

175 



176 THE TREASURES OF THE HILLS 

veins of coal were found in the mountains of Pennsylvania, 
and here, too, the sturdy miners began digging and blasting 
away. Since then it has been found that America has more 
coal and iron than any other country in the world. 

Just think of whole mountains made up of iron ore ! In 
Missouri you may see two mountains of this kind, one of them 
over 700 feet high. It is fortunate for mankind that the 
most useful metal is the most plentiful. Every year about 
40,000,000 tons of iron are produced in the world and made 
into an immense variety of goods for man's use. And of this 
iron the United States yields half as much as 

Iron and Coal 1 1 t 

all the rest of the world. I can say the same 
thing about coal. The United States and Great Britain pro- 
duce twice as much iron and coal as all the other countries 
of the earth. Coal and iron go together, you should know. 
We must burn coal to get iron, and if the coal should be all 
used, as it may be some time, the world might find itself out 
of iron. 

All the vast development in iron and coal mining 
belongs to the nineteenth century. There has been more iron 
mined in a hundred years than for 10,000 years before ; and 
as for coal, its beds were hardly scratched a hundred years 
ago. Now we dig up and burn every year nearly 500,000,000 
tons, and it takes as much coal to drive one of our great steam- 
ships across the ocean as it did to warm some of our cities a 
century ago. Wood was much used then, but it would not 
be of much account now. 

The same thing can be said about the precious metals, 
gold and silver. If you think of the many thousands of years 
that man has lived upon the earth, and then of the little 
morsel of time of the last fifty years, it is hard to imagine that 
more gold has been taken from the sands and the rocks in 
this handful of years than in all past time. Yet such is the 




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THE TREASURES OF THE HHLS 177 

case. Since 1850 man has found far more gold than in all the 
years before. And he has twice as much silver to-day as he 
had a hundred years ago. This old world of ours has grown 
rich very fast during the nineteenth century. 

Here, there, and nearly everywhere gold has been dis- 
covered. Almost while we are talking men are finding new 
gold fields in Alaska. There is nothing more interesting than 
the story of e^old. It has eiven rise to no end 

. . ^ ^ , ,^ . , ^ , Gold and Silver 

of adventures, men have hurried from end to 
end of the earth to obtain it, even wars have sprung from it. 
I must certainly tell you of some of the wonderful finds of 
gold in the nineteenth century. 

In one of our chapters, away back, you read of how the 
United States went to war with Mexico, and defeated that 
country. As part of the spoils of war it held on to \he large 
province of California, which lay along the Pacific Ocean and 
ran back to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mexico had owned 
that country for several hundred years, but found it of little 
more use than as a place to feed sheep in. No one dreamed 
that it was paved with golden sands. It took the Americans 
to find out that. 

One day in 1848 some workmen were digging a millrace 
in the Sacramento Valley in California, and one of them saw 
sparks of shining yellow in the dirt thrown out. He washed 
some of this out, and to his delight he found it to be gold. 
There was no more use for mills or millraces after that, as 
you may well imagine. People thought of nothing but gold. 
The news spread, as if the birds were carrying it on their 
wings and scattering it down as they sped onward. The 
people of San Francisco dropped everything and ran to the 
hills, hungry for gold. To the right, to the left, they dug and 
found the shining yellow grains. '* Gold was everywhere — in 
the soil, in the rivei; sand, in the mountain rock." 



178 THE TREASURES OE THE HI ELS 

Soon the people of the eastern United States and Canada 
heard the news and set out in multitudes for the golden 
realm. Some of them went by ship, some crossed the great 
plains in slow teams, fighting with the Indians as they went 
Then Europe got the news, and the thirst for gold spread there. 
California filled with people ; its sands were dug and washed, 
its old river beds excavated, its very rocks torn to pieces. 
The half-crazy gold hunters seemed as if they 
^ f^ i'l*!*""'^ would like to tear out the heart of the earth in 

Gold Fields 

their search for the golden metal. In seven 
years gold was obtained to the value of nearly ^500,000,000. 
When the sands were emptied of their gold men turned to 
the rocks and began to tunnel and mine, and they have been 
getting gold from them ever since. 

But the United States was not long to have all the 
treasure of gold. Two years after the yellow metal was 
found in California it was found in Australia, and a great rush 
of miners to that far-ofif island began. It was as if two great 
streams of men were constantly flowing from the settled 
countries into the wilds of California and Australia, eager for 
wealth. In seven years gold worth the immense sum of 
$330,000,000 was found in the Australian fields, and no one 
knows when it is going to end. 

Does not this seem very wonderful ? For ages these 
treasures had waited for the coming of man, and now they 
were being dug up all at once to enrich the world. And the 
end was not yet. Another great field of gold lay waiting to 
be discovered. Far away in South Africa, in a country which 
had long been unknown to Vvdiite men, and over which the 
Dutch settlers now drove their herds of cattle, there was a 
ridge of rocks which seemed put there as a nuisance for men 
to climb over. But one day some curious fellow began to 
study these rocks and found that they were rich in gold. 



THE TREASURES OF THE HHLS 179 

Then the old story came again. Men hurried in droves 
to the Transvaal hills and began to blast the rocks and smash 
the stones into dust and wash out the gold. Every year 
more and more was obtained, and before the century ended 
these rough rocks were yielding more gold than either the 
United States or Australia. It was a great thing for the world, 
for the nations were hungry for money, but it was not a good 
thing for the quiet Dutch Boers, who did not The Transvaal 
like to see these strangers crowding into their and Alaska 
land. If you will turn back to the chapter on ^'"^^ 
"South Africa and the Boer War," you will learn what came 
of it all, how a British army was sent there in ships to con- 
quer the country and take from the people their independence. 
Gold is good in its way, but, as the Bible says, "the love 
of money is the root of all evil." 

I have another gold field still to speak of, that of Alaska. 
Every one of you must have heard of the Klondike diggings, 
where gold is got out of the frozen soil, and of Cape Nome, 
where the sands of the seashore are full of gold. No one 
knows how widely gold is spread through that broad land, or 
how much will yet be found. The world is growing richer in 
gold by about $300,000,000 worth every year, and this may 
increase as the years go on. 

Now shall we speak of silver ? Does some one ask, 
Where is the white metal found ? Why, like the yellow 
metal, it may be had almost everywhere; but this I can say, 
that America is richer in silver than all the rest of the world, 
and the United States and Mexico yield twice as much of the 
white metal as all other countries combined. You may have 
read of the Bonanza mines of Nevada, which were fabulously 
rich. To-day Colorado is the great silver state, yielding 
$30,000,000 worth every year. It is the great gold state, too, 
for in 1900 nearly half the gold of the country came from that 



i8o THE TREASURES OF THE HILLS 

state. The United States gives us ^70,000,000 worth of silver 
every year, and Mexico still more. 

When we think of the vast treasures of gold and silver, 
iron and coal, that the hills have yielded to mankind during 
the nineteenth century, it almost makes us stagger. You 
have often seen the tiny ants carrying grains of sand from 
underground till they built up quite an ant mountain in a few 
days, and have wondered at their industry. But we may see 
men everywhere doing the same thing, digging 
lamon s an . ^^ earth and the rocks, robbing^ them of 

Rock Oil . . 

their treasures, and leaving mountains of refuse 
behind. I have not told you of all the treasures of the hills. 
There are the sparkling diamonds which we all love for their 
beauty. Until lately these were nearly all found in India 
and Brazil, but now a wonderful mine of diamonds is worked 
in South Africa, and thousands of these brilliant stones are 
dug up every year. 

What else has the nineteenth century done for the world? 
Why, look at the petroleum or rock oil, which no one dreamed 
of a hundred years ago, yet which is now found in many parts 
of the earth. Over 5,000,000,000 gallons of this valuable oil 
spout up every year from the wells of the world — half of it in 
the United States, and nearly another half in Russia. And 
with it comes the natural gas, which yields heat and light to 
houses and workshops. 

Of the many other rock treasures I shall speak only of 
copper, zinc and tin, all of which are very useful metals. 
Copper, you know, is used largely for telephone wires. The 
United States is the great copper country. It yields every 
year nearly 250,000 tons, and the rest of the world only 
200,000. But Europe runs far ahead of it in zinc, and 
nearly all the tin of the world comes from the Straits Settle- 
ments, in the southeastern part of Asia. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



Ttie Marvels of Machinery and the Great 

Inventors 




N the first part of this book I told you how things 
were done in the year 1800, how men worked in 
the fields with old-fashioned hand tools which 
nobody ever sees any more, except in museums, 
and how most of the work in the shops was done 
by hand. I know that none of my readers cares to hear about 
this again. They all have fresh young memories and do not 
forget quite so easily as that. And I certainly do not need to 
tell any of them about how things were done in the year 1900, 
for they know this quite as well as I do. Many of them have 
seen horse and steam machines at work in the fields and barns, 
each of them as good as ten or twenty men. And many 
others have seen and heard machines rattling and clanking in 
the city mills and factories, each doing a hundred men's work. 
But I am afraid none of you quite understand how great 
the change has been. You would have had to live in 1800 
and then been born again into 1900 to appreciate the wonder- 
ful progress the world has made. Why, there 
are hundreds of little thino^s we possess to- ^. . 

fc" i Things 

day which it seems to us the world must always 
have had, for we do not see how people could ever have got 
along without them. Yet our grandfathers and great-grand- 
fathers had none of these things, and yet they thought they 
were very well off 

12 181 



1 82 THE MARVELS OE MACHINERY 

You see we do not miss much the things we never heard 
of, though when we get them we may not see how we ever 
got along in comfort without them. So it is that we, to-day, 
pity the poor, miserable people who lived in 1800. But 
likely enough, a hundred years from now, boys and girls and 
men and women will be pitying the poor, miserable people 
who lived in 1900. I suppose, some day, the good folks will 
be wondering how the world ever got along without flying 
From stages machines. We get along very well without 
coach to Flying them, but wc wonder how the world ever got 
Machine along without railroads and locomotives. No 

doubt, in 1800 people wondered how their ancestors got 
along without stage coaches. 

All this is curious to think about, isn't it? These great 
changes are due to a class of people we call inventors ; that 
is, men who study out new ways of doing things which are 
better and faster and cheaper than the old ways. No doubt 
there have been inventors ever since man came upon the earth. 
During the past two or three thousand years there have been 
many inventors, and they have given the world new ways of 
doing things that would seem like magic if we were not so 
used to them. But there were more wonderful inventions 
in the nineteenth century than in very many centuries before it, 
and it is these inventions that I am now going to speak about. 

Do you know what lies at the foundation of all the nine- 
teenth century progress in invention. I can tell those who 
do not know in three words — The Steam Engine. It is 
this that turns the wheels of the world, and sets everything 
whirling, and clanking, and throbbing, until one would think 
that our machines of wood and iron were alive and were doing 
things with their fingers of steel as we do them with our fin- 
gers of flesh. The steam engine was invented in the eigh- 
teenth century, so we have nothing here to do with it. But 



THE MAR VELS OF MA CHINER Y 1 83 

if we choose to look on the work of the nineteenth century 
as a vast edifice built by man's hands, we can truly say that 
the steam engine is its corner-stone. 

The earliest great invention of the century came directly 
from the steam engine. Robert Fulton, a deep-thinking 
American, put an engine in a boat, hung paddle-wheels at the 
sides, and made the engine set them whirling in the water, 
and the steamboat was invented. It was not Robert Fulton 
the first steamboat. Others had been made in and the 
Europe and America. But it was the first steamboat 
good one, and when it went gliding up the Hudson against 
wind and tide, flinging the spray from its paddles and send- 
ing great clouds of black smoke from its smokestack, every 
one saw that a wonderful new thing had come. 

The people along the river were sadly frightened when 
they saw this strange thing crawling along up stream. It 
looked to them like a huge monster, spouting fire and smoke 
from its black throat, lashing the water with its great fins, and 
shaking the very trees with its roar. But they soon got used 
to it, as horses got used to the trolley cars, and it was not 
long before steamboats were running on a hundred rivers and 
steamships were battling with the ocean waves. Clumsy, 
awkward, slow affairs these were, but they were like the seeds 
from which great trees grow. To-day we have steamships 
that look like great floating hotels, and that can take you on 
board at New York to-day and land you in London or Paris 
in less than a week. 

Soon something else was done with the steam engine. 
It was put in a sort of iron wagon, with wheels that ran on 
rails, and was called a locomotive. While some men were 
working with the steamboat, others were working with the 
steam-carriage, but it took longer to make a good one. The 
first man to succeed was George Stephenson, a poor English 



1 84 THE MAR VELS OF MA CHINER Y 

workingman. In 1830 people stood looking at Stephenson's 
little "Rocket" as if they had seen a wonderful comet, when 
it shot along over the rails at a speed of thirty miles an hour, 
and drew a train of cars at half that speed. 

I am afraid we would laugh at Stephenson's baby loco- 
motive to-day, if we saw it beside our great steel giants which 
thunder over the rails with long trains of cars at more than 
sixty miles an hour. It is much less than a 

Stephenson and i 11 • ^.Ui.r)i4-" u 

^, , ^. hundred years smce the " Rocket was born, 

the Locomotive ^ ... 

but to-day there are nearly half a million miles 
of railway in the world, and I do not like to say how many 
tons of goods and how many people they carry every year. 

You see what wonderful things have been done by put- 
ting the steam engine in boats and carriages. That was only 
the beginning. Thousands and thousands of wonderful 
machines have been made which would be of no use without 
the steam engine, and all over the earth are great factories 
run by steam, and producing such a vast variety and multi- 
tude of goods that it almost makes our heads ache even to 
think of it all. The steam engine does not do all this directly. 
The work is done by machines which it sets in motion, and 
these machines have been devised by thousands of busy 
inventors who spent their lives thinking them out and making 
them work. The engine rattles away underground just as 
our heart beats away in the middle of our body. As the heart 
keeps the whole body in life and activity, so the engine keeps 
the whole factory in a busy whirl, and sets in motion the fin- 
gers and toes of a thousand machines, big and little. 

Nearly all these marvelous machines were invented in 
the nineteenth century. Do not ask me to name them all ; 
it would be like making a dictionary. You have only to go 
through the factories and workshops in your cities and towns 
and see them for yourselves. In some of these buildings you 



THE MARVELS OF MACHINERY 185 

will see multitudes of looms, weaving cloth and carpets and 
many kinds of goods. Men and women are looking on, but 
the machines rattle away as if they do not want to be med- 
dled with, but know very well what they are about. In other 
shops you may see huge hammers flattening out solid iron as 
if it was cheese, though they can be made to strike so softly 
that they will not break an egg-shell. And there are great 
lathes that shave away iron and steel almost as easily as a 
carpenter planes away wood, and huge lifts that will pick up 
a hundred ton lump of iron as you would pick up a chip. 

Go now into other shops and you will see something 
very different. Here are curious little machines, as full of 
tiny wheels and fine steel fingers as our bodies are of nerves 
and muscles, which make tacks and pins, and the delicate 
parts of watches, and dozens of other small 
things, dropping them down faster than you can ^ ^j ^^^^^^^ 
count. Elsewhere you may see machines print- 
ing newspapers and books, and setting type, and folding 
printed sheets, and acting as if they had been told what to 
do and went ahead and did it. 

This is not the whole story ; it is only the beginning of 
it. No doubt most of you have seen machines doing many 
other things, working wood and iron and brass, digging in 
the earth,, pumping in the rivers, working in the fields and the 
barns, hammering and twisting, rattling and roaring, some of 
them as noisy as thunder, some doing their work as silently 
as ':he falling leaf It is all very marvelous ; much of it seems 
like magic ; to write of it seems like writing of the doings of 
magicians and wonder-workers. And we. owe nearly the 
whole of this wonderful work to the nineteenth century. 

But I would not have you think that all the great inven- 
tions of the century were the work of the steam engine. No, 
indeed, you must not imagine that. It is well to call the 



1 86 THE MAR VELS OF MA CHINER Y 

steam engine the root of them all, but there were some side 
branches which did not depend on engine power. One of 
these was the sewing machine. I need not tell how useful 
this machine has been. For thousands of years all clothing 
was made by hand with the needle. Now in multitudes of 
homes may be seen this swift little machine worked by the 
foot, and doing ten times what the hand could do. In fac- 
tories it is worked by steam, but it was made for a foot-power 
machine. 

Many men tried to make a machine that would sew, but 
only one succeeded. This was a poor American mechanic 
named Elias Howe. For years he worked away at it in his 
humble home, very poor and often out of food and out of 
heart. But he succeeded at last. He invented the lockstitch 
Howe Invents ^^^ shuttle, and in that way made a machine 
the Sewing that would do good work. But when poor 

Machine Howe got his machine made he had to fight 

for it. There are always land pirates looking out for some- 
thing to steal. Some rich firms stole Howe's invention, and 
it took him as long to fight for it in the courts as it did to 
study it out in his home. At length he won his rights and 
forced these men to pay him, and in time he came to be 
very rich. 

Charles Goodyear, who invented the vulcanized rubber 
of which all rubber goods are now made, had as hard a life 
as Elias Howe. Before his time all rubber got soft in hot 
weather, and it was of very little use. It took him years to 
find out that sulphur would make it hard, and he became so 
poor that he was half starved. And he did not grow rich like 
Howe. His invention did a great deal of good to the world 
but very little to him. 

There is one other great discovery of which I shall speak 
here, the art of photography. I do not call this an invention. 



THE MARVELS OF MACHINERY 187 

It was a chemical discovery. And there have been many- 
later discoveries which have made the photograph the won- 
derful thing it is to-day. Probably very few of you have seen 
one of the old-fashioned daguerreotypes, as the sun-pictures 
were first named. Poor things they were compared with the 
splendid photographs we now possess. 

After a discovery is made invention steps in. Men have 
invented methods of printing from photographs, and we can 
hardly pick up a book to-day without finding in it pictures 
made in this manner. It used to be very slow 

1,1 1 i. i • i. • c Pictures from 

and costly work to cut a picture on a piece of „. ^ . 

-^ ^ ^ Photographs 

boxwood. Now one can be made very quickly 
from a photograph. And people seem to like them better, 
for they are taken directly from nature herself, and show us 
things as they actually exist. 

Let us consider a few large undertakings. It is hard 
work for a locomotive and a train of heavy cars to crawl up 
hill, so in many places men have bored great holes or tunnels 
through mountains, some of them eight or ten miles long. 
No one need climb over the Alps to-day ; we can go through 
the heart of the mountains in swift trains. And in some 
places we can go under rivers or under cities. 

Rivers had to be crossed, and great iron and steel 
bridges were built. Some of them hang by strong cables, 
looking at a distance like spider webs in the air, and others 
are great networks of steel rods and braces. Then for the use 
of ships vast canals were built. The Suez Canal from the 
Mediterranean to the Red Sea saves thousands of miles of 
distance in going by water from Europe to Asia. There is 
hardly anything which engineers will not try to do nowadays ; 
and the works of man's hands are wonderful indeed. So I 
may say again that in invention the nineteenth century has 
been the most remarkable era that man has ever known. 



CHAPTER XXIV 



Morse and Edison and the Marvels of 

Electricity 




F we should go back about one hundred and fifty 
years ago to a certain kitchen fireside in Scot- 
land, we might see a thoughtful-faced boy 
watching the lid on his mother's kettle as it was 
lifted by the steam, and wondering if the power 
that lifted the lid could not be put to some greater use. That 
boy was James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, which, 
as you read in the last chapter, was the seed from which grew 
most of the great inventions of the nineteenth century. 

In the same period that Watt was watching the kettle a 
man in Philadelphia was making another important discovery. 
He held the string of a kite which floated in the clouds of a 
thunder storm, and when he put his knuckle to a key fas- 
tened to the string there came from it a bright electric spark. 
This spark proved that lightning is the same 

Franklin and ,, . i ^ • -^ -t-i > 

the Kite thmg as electricity. I he man s name was 

Benjamin Franklin, and he too was planting a 
wonderful seed. The power he was drawing from the clouds 
would in time lead to inventions even more wonderful than 
those that grew out of the power of steam. It is this that I 
wish to tell you about, the marvels of electricity. 

One thing that the kite-string proved was that electricity 
can travel. It went into the string at the clouds, and came 
out of it near the ground. As time went on others learned 

188 



THE MARVELS OF ELECTRICITY 189 

the same thing, and found that electricity would travel from 
one end to the other of a long wire. I do not know who was 
the first man to think that this fact might be put to wonder- 
ful use, that the traveling electricity might be made to carry 
news. Very likely that fancy came to more than one man, 
but the first to make good use of it was an American named 
Samuel F. B. Morse. 

Morse was an artist. He had been in Europe to study 
painting, and when he was on his way home he heard one of 
the passengers on the ship talking about experiments in elec- 
tricity. Franklin, this man said, had sent the electric current 
through several miles of wire, and the same thing had lately 
been done in Paris, where the current had traveled with 
wonderful speed. 

" If that is the case," said Morse, "and if we can make 
electricity show itself miles away, why can we not send sig- 
nals by it, and thus make the lightning talk?" 

" It would be a fine thing if we could send news that 
way," said one of the passengers. 

"Why can't we?" asked Morse. 

You may be sure that these words left a man like Morse 
in deep thought. He did not talk much more during that 
voyage, and before the ship got to New Yopk 
he had worked the whole thing out in his busy ^i^habef^*' 
brain. He had contrived an alphabet of dots 
and dashes which could be made by the electric current and 
which stood for letters and words, and to-day nearly all the 
telegraph operators in the world use that alphabet. 

" If I can make it' go for ten miles I can make it go 
round the earth," said Morse. 

Now if you know anything about invention you must 
know that it is easier to get an idea than to put it in practice. 
Poor Morse found this out. It took him years to get his 



igo THE MARVELS OF ELECTRICITY 

ideas to work. He spent all his money and became as poor 
as a beggar. Once he went a whole day without even a crust 
of bread to eat. But he did not give up. He kept at it till 
he was able to send a message through a long wire. Then 
he tried to get men with money to help him lay a telegraph 
wire, and that was as hard as the other. They listened to 
him, but buttoned up their pockets. 

"Your wires work, Mr. Morse," they said, "but just 
think of the money it would cost to lay miles of wire under- 
ground ! It would never pay. People are not in such a hurry 
for news as all that. They would rather wait for them in the 
good old way." 

He tried to get some money from Congress, but he had 

to wait for five years on the slow law-makers, who never do 

things in a hurry. Time went on until the 3d of March, 1843, 

and Congress would adjourn for another year at twelve 

o'clock that night. Morse waited till past 

ongress an eleven, and then he grew so hopeless that he 

gave it up and went home. He was sure that 

all was at an end. But the next morning, when he came 

down to breakfast, a young lady who lived in the house met 

him with a sweet smile on her face and told him that his bill 

was passed. Congress had voted him thirty thousand dollars 

to lay a telegraph wire. 

Morse did not waste much time now, I can tell you that 
He went actively at work to lay a wire underground from 
Baltimore to Washington, but after he had spent a year at it 
and most of his money was gone he found that his work was 
of no use. The electricity would not go through. 

Then he carried a wire on poles through the air, and 
tried that. To his great joy it worked splendidly. He was 
able to talk over every mile of the wire as it was put in place, 
and on the 24th of May, 1844, the first telegraph message was 



THE MAR VELS OF ELECTRICITY 191 

sent from Baltimore to Washington. It had been chosen by 
Miss Annie Ellsworth, the young lady who told him that his 
bill was passed. The message — taken from the Bible — was, 
"What hath God wrought?" She felt that this wonderful 
thing was due to God, not to man. 

This is only the beginning of the story of the electric 
telegraph. It was soon shown that the men of money were 
mistaken, and that people wanted news as fast as they could 
get them. The wires kept spreading till in time they ran 
almost everywhere, and to-day none of us can 
2:0 far from home without seeing: one or more ^^^', 

^ *^ Development 

of these news-bearing wires. They show no 
signs of what they are doing; but silently the current of elec- 
tricity passes along them and we know how they have been 
busy when we read in the morning paper of things that took 
place in a hundred far-off regions the day before. 

It was soon found that short wires would carry the elec- 
tric current under water, and that gave an idea to another 
man, as wise in his way as Morse. "If it will go under a 
river, why will it not go under the ocean?" he asked. "All 
we want is to keep the electricity from leaking out of the wire 
into the water, and we can do that by surrounding it with 
something which the current will not pass through." 

This man, Cyrus W. Field, went to work as actively as 
Morse had done. It was not so hard now to get men to put 
money into the telegraph, and he soon had workmen making 
a cable of twisted wires, covered with rubber, to keep the cur- 
rent from leaking out. This cable was loaded on two great 
ships which set out to lay it on the bottom of the ocean. But 
they had not got far out before the cable broke. They tried 
again the next year and it broke once more. 

"It is not strong enough to bear its own weight," said 
Mr. Field. "We must have a new and stronger cable/' 



192 THE MARVELS OF ELECTRICITY 

But it took much money to make a cable, and this was 
now hard to get. People did not care to go on burying their 
money in the sea. But Cyrus Field kept at them till he got 
the money, and built the cable, and loaded it on the ships 
again. This time all went well, and on the 5th of August, 
1858, the great Atlantic cable was laid. When messages 
began to come over it beneath three thousand miles of sea all 
the nations were glad and there were great celebrations. The 
first message sent was from the Bible : " Glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men ! " 

But the gladness did not last very long, for in less than 
a month the cable quit working. Not a word or signal could 
be got through it, and there was dreadful disappointment. 
It was very hard on those who had spent hundreds of thous- 
ands of dollars of which they would never see a penny again. 
A Man Who But Field did not stop. The cable had worked 
Would not be and he would make one that would work better. 
Defeated j^ IqoV him five years now to raise the money, 

and two years more before the cable was laid. Alas ! it 
broke again, and the hopes of the world sank into the sea. 
All except those of Cyrus Field ; nothing could make that 
man give up. He had another cable made in all haste, and 
this was laid without breaking and was found to work splen- 
didly. Then the cable which had broken the year before was 
lifted from the bottom and spliced, and that worked as well. 
Thus the world had two telegraph lines under the sea be- 
tween Europe and America, and Cyrus Field was the hero 
of his time. 

Since then such lines have been laid under all seas, and 
we receive news every day from the most distant lands. You 
may remember how we read of Dewey's victory at Manila in 
our papers the very next day after it was won. That is only 
one case out of tens of thousands. 



THE MAR VELS OF ELECTRICITY 193 

Ten years after the ocean cable was laid a most wonder- 
ful electrical discovery was made. In 1876, as no doubt you 
have all read, there was a great World's Fair at Philadelphia, 
in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of 
Independence. And in one corner of this mighty show was a 
wire along which people could talk. I do not mean that they 
could talk by dots and dashes, but they could actually speak 
into the wire and their voices would be heard at the other end. 
Am I not right in calling this wonderful ? 

This was the telephone, invented by Andrew Graham 
Bell. Not many saw it in the Centennial, for it was modestly 
hidden away ; but now it can be seen almost everywhere, and 
not a day passes but thousands of people talk over the wires 
to others miles away. They can make their 
voices heard a thousand miles off, and in time ^ . ' 

' Telephone 

to come men in New York may be talking to 
men in London. Why, even pictures can be sent by tele- 
graph, and a message can be sent in your own handwriting. 
No one can tell what marvels the future may bring forth. 

I cannot tell you all that has been done with electricity, so 
I shall speak only of the great things, and let you find out the 
small things for yourselves. One of these great things is the 
electric light. The electric spark had been known for several 
hundred years, but it was not till near the end of the nine- 
teenth century that the electric light came, a bright, steady 
glow that lit up out-doors and in-doors alike, aild made mid- 
night seem almost like midday. 

Have you ever seen a dynamo ? This is a whirling 
wheel of magnets which is turned at great speed by a steam 
engine, and gives off such a stream of electricity as had never 
been dreamed of before. It is this mighty current that yields 
the electric light, which is like a million electric sparks all 
welded into one and kept going hour after hour. 



194 THE MAR VELS OF ELECTRICITY 

It takes much power to make the brilliant arc light, shin- 
ing all night long as brightly as the full moon. It is the 
power of the steam engine transformed into electricity. It can 
be made to do more than give us light. It can set another 
engine working and give us power again. And through this 
power we get the electric trolley-car, one of the most remark- 
able developments of the century. 

The long, silent wire, over head or under ground, is brim- 
ful of electric power, which flows along the trolley-pole into 
the car, sets its engine whirling, and drives the car swiftly 
over the rails. This power can do greater work 

Electricity as a ,,1 -, i, i !_• j • 

^ still ; it can move huge locomotives, dragging 

trains of loaded cars ; it can set the wheels of 
a factory whirling ; it can move the little sewing-machine, the 
bicycle, the automobile, the electric launch, and do a- hundred 
other things. What it may come to do in the future no man 
can say. 

I have no doubt that many of my young readers have 
been looking for the name of another great inventor, the 
magic-working Edison. I have not mentioned him, because 
he did not invent any of the marvels I have named, though 
he did much to bring them to perfection. For years Edison 
worked on the electric light, the telephone, and the electric 
motor, making hundreds of useful improvements and inven- 
tions. He showed the world how sixteen messages could be 
sent at once^ over a single telegraph wire, and how words 
could be telegraphed far faster than ever before. 

But the most remarkable of his inventions was the mar- 
velous phonograph. This is not an electrical instrument, but it 
came from his studies in electricity. You may talk, or whis- 
tle, or sing into this machine, and when you start it moving 
your voice will come back to you, jus:t as if there was some 
tiny fairy inside who had caught your words and spoke them 



THE MARVELS OF ELECTRICITY 195 

back again. That is not all ; you can hear it as well in a 
year from now — or in a hundred years, if you live that long. 
Your words have made little marks upon a roll of gelatine 
inside, and as long as those marks remain the machine can 
repeat what you have said to it. When a great speaking 
trumpet is attached to the phonograph we have 
the graphophone, which talks loud enough to ph'^^"^^ 
be heard all over a large room. 

Here I shall have to stop. I have not told you the 
quarter of Edison's wonderful work, nor the tenth part of 
what has been done in electricity. Men look on electricity 
as the great power-giver of the future. No one can guess 
what may come from it. Its future is hidden in mystery. 
But when we think of what has been done in a quarter of a 
century we cannot help feeling that the years ahead of us 
may yield marvels more striking than any we have seen. 




CHAPTER XXV 

The Wonders of Science 

|HIS chapter is to be about the wonders of science. 
Do you all know just what that means ? Science 
is knowledge ; but it is not the whole of knowl- 
edge. We can know many things which have 
nothing to do with science. History and biogra- 
phy and art are not science. Invention, which I have been 
telling you about, is not science. Science is discovery, but 
not the inventive kind of discovery. When we discover any- 
thing new about the world we live in, anything about its ani- 
mals, its plants, its minerals, about its air and its water, about 
our own bodies and minds, about the sun above us and the 
stars and planets around us, we are dealing with science. 
When we take any of the things of the earth 
and make them useful to man in some new way 
we are dealing with invention. Science, you 
see, teaches us about things as God made them. Invention 
gives us things as man makes them. I hope you perceive 
the difference. 

Does science belong to the nineteenth century ? some 
one of you asks. Not at all. Men have been learning new 
things about nature for thousands of years. But for all that, 
the nineteenth century was as far ahead in science as it was in 
invention, and I shall have to tell you about some of its won- 
derful discoveries. I have already spoken about the discov- 
eries in electricity, which are both science and invention, so 
here I must talk about some other fields of discovery. 

196 ' 



Science and 
Invention 



THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE 197 

Let US take heat. You think you know what that is. 
When you touch a hot stove, and your finger feeks as if it had 
the toothache, you are apt to fancy that something has gone 
from the stove into your hand. But it is not a thing, it is 
only a motion. The particles of your hand are set darting back 
and forward so rapidly that it hurts ; that is all. You cannot 
see them, but they are always vibrating with great speed, and 
heat makes them move faster still. This is one of the dis- 
coveries of the nineteenth century. Heat is not a thing; it 
is only a motion. And it has been found that light and elec- 
tricity also are not things, but only motions. This may not 
seem much to you, but it is a great discovery. 

Let us take light, that wonder of nature by which we dis- 
cover everything else. At one time it was thought that all 
bright objects sent out showers of very fine particles of matter, 
and that when these touched the eye they gave us the sensa- 
tion of sight, and when they touched the skin they gave the 
sensation of feeling. Now we know that it is not 
matter, but motion, that is given off If you ^^^y^^^ *^ 
fling a stone into the water you see waves of 
motion passing out in all directions from where the stone 
hits the surface. If you clap your hands together you make 
waves of the same kind in the air, and the sensation we get 
from them is called sound. Hot substances give off waves 
of a far finer kind, and when they touch us we get the sensa- 
tions of light and heat. 

Just here I must speak of one of the most wonderful dis- 
coveries of the nineteenth century. You know that light will 
pass through glass and water and air, but that it is stopped 
by stone and iron and by nearly all solid substances. But 
not many years ago a new kind of light wave was found that 
would not go through glass, but would go through wood, and 
cloth, and flesh, and many such things. 

13 



198 THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE 

We call this light the "X-ray." The strange part about 
it is that by its help we can look right through a man. We 
can see his bones and other organs of his body. If a bone is 
broken we can see the spot and the kind of break ; and if 
there is something in his flesh that has no business there, such 
as a piece of broken needle, the surgeon knows just where to 
cut so as to take it out. You may see that the X-ray is of 
great use in case of accident. 

When we talk of light it sets us thinking of the far-off 

light-givers of the sky, the sun and the stars, without which 

our world would be in total darkness. Scientific men for ages 

have been studying these shining bodies. Thousands of 

years ago the people of Babylonia and Egypt 

" ^ *^ ^ watched the movements of the stars, p^ave 

Heavens ' ^ 

them names, and learned some important things 
about them. As time went on many other things were 
learned. But I may safely say that in the nineteenth century 
as much has been found out about the sun and the stars as 
was ever known before. 

The sun has been watched in times of eclipse through 
large telescopes and a great deal learned about it. The 
planets, which circle round the sun as the earth does, have 
taught us many things. The moon has been brought so close 
that we can see all its mountains and valleys. And photo- 
graphs of the planets and stars have been made from which 
many new facts have been learned. 

But the most wonderful discovery of all comes from what 
is known as spectrum analysis. You should try and remem- 
ber these two words, for you will often come across them in 
your later reading. They mean the analysis or study of the 
ray of light. There are ways, which I fear I cannot make you 
understand, to tell what kind of substance a light comes from; 
whether from iron or sodium or hydrogen or some other 



THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE 199 

element of nature. By studying the light of the stars we can 
tell something about the substances these are made of We 
know, for instance, that the sun contains iron and hydrogen 
and a dozen or more other elements. And we know some 
of the substances in stars which are many millions of millions 
of miles away. * 

Now let us leave those far-away objects and come down 
to the earth, the solid ground which we tread under our feet. 
What has science to tell us about that ? Well, one thing we 
learn from it is that the earth is immensely old. Men have 
been on its surface a long time ; but ages be- 

fo, 1 r, i_ r i. Fossil Animals 

re men came there were hosts 01 strangre . ^. r. . 

o in the Rocks 

animals which died and left their bones in the 
rocks. These bones were turned into stone and neatly packed 
away for millions of years, waiting for some nineteenth cen- 
tury geologist to come along and dig them up and tell the 
world what they meant. 

You may see these fossils, as we call them, in museums 
of natural history, some of them very odd-looking. We learn 
that in those ancient times animals much larger than the ele- 
phant stalked about, and that most of these creatures were 
very different from the animals we see to-day. If we go very 
far back the animals grow smaller and simpler, and at length 
we come to a time when there was no life, and beyond that to 
a time when the earth was a ball of fire. It took very many 
millions of years for it to cool off and for life to begin. These 
are some of the things we learn from geology. 

Science has not given all its time to the study of the 
ancient life of the earth. There is life all around us to-day 
— animals tiny and large, plants of all sorts and kinds ; and 
during the past century many hundreds of busy scholars have 
been studying these and have told the world a great deal 
about them. 



200 THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE 

One of the first things they learned was that there are 
two kinds of animals, one with a backbone and one without. 
We belong to the backboned kind, and so do all the four- 
legged creatures around us. And not only these, but the 
crawling snakes and swimming crocodiles and turtles, the 
flying birds, and all the fishes of the sea, belong to this 
great class. 

But there are myriads of living things about us which 
have no bones at all. These are the insects — the flying bees 
and butterflies, the leaping crickets, the digging ants, the 
buzzing flies, the stinging mosquitoes, and thousands of other 
forms which fly or crawl or burrow, and of 
^ A • 1 which there are probably a million difl'eient 

Ocean Animals r y 

kinds. Then there are the creeping snails, 
which carry their houses about on their backs, and are made 
on a plan very different from the insects. 

Such is the life on the land. You might think there was 
not much life in the sea, with its heaving waves and frightful 
storms. But science tells us that the ocean waters are full of 
life, from the top to the bottom of the seas, and of a wonder- 
ful variety. The fishes, of course, you know of But there 
are vast multitudes of creatures of the crab and lobster kind, 
and innumerable hosts of sea shells, many of them very odd 
and beautiful. 

The coral rock, which many of you must have seen, was 
once the dwelling place of a great many small creatures, who 
built this substance to live in. And the sponge, which you 
use in the bath, comes from an animal of a different kind, 
which extracts this spongy substance from the water. Then 
there are the spiny starfish and sea-urchins, and the strange 
creatures which glitter like fire-flies and which sometimes 
make the water look as if it was all in flames. Away down 
below the surface, where it is always dark, there are fishes 



THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE 201 

which look like living lanterns and light up all around them 
as they swim. 

There is not so much to say about plants. These, you 
know, do not usually move about, but are fast in the ground, 
so that when you see a plant you are apt to look for a root 
and a stem and some sort of leaves. But there is a great 
number of different plants, and during the nineteenth century 
hundreds of new kinds have been found in countries that 
were not known before. But all plants are not 
rooted in the OTound. There are some which J^^ 

^ Qrovv 

float in the water, and there is one very small 
kind which can be seen only with the microscope, and which 
is found almost everywhere. We call these tiny things 
bacteria. They are very dangerous to man, for they get into 
his body and increase there rapidly, and some of them give 
rise to terrible diseases, such as yellow fever and consump- 
tion and cholera and many others. 

This is one of the greatest discoveries of the nineteenth 
century. In old times doctors did not know the cause of 
these dreadful diseases, which would sometimes carry off 
millions of people in a few months. Now they know what 
they come from and are learning how to cure them, so that 
many who would have had to die in the past may be kept 
alive now. 

There is another living being whom we have learned a 
great deal about in the nineteenth century, much more than 
was ever known before. His name is man. An old Greek 
writer said, as a maxim of wisdom, " Know thyself," and 
man is now trying to know himself All parts of the earth 
have been searched and the races of men looked for, their 
languages studied, their modes of life observed, their tools 
and weapons collected, till now we know ever so much about 
them. 



202 THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE 

This is far from all. Man's own body has been studied 
as carefully as geologists study the rocks of the earth's crust. 
Science has dug down into us and traced our nerves and 
muscles, our blood vessels and bones, our heart and brain, 
until they have learned thousands of things about the inside 
make-up of a man. And they have learned much of what is 
going on within him — how the blood moves, how the mus- 
cles act, how the nerves carry news to the brain, and how 
many other things go on. 

You may see from all this that science has been very ac- 
tive during the past century. It has learned a vast number of 
things about the subjects I have named and about other sub- 
What Man jccts I have not named. And now it is begin- 

Knows About ning to study something of which it knows very 
Himself Y\\S\^ as yet, and that is the mind of man. After 

matter comes mind. Science has for centuries been studying 
matter, and only lately it has fairly begun to study mind. 

We know a great deal about the mind now, about how 
we think and feel, and how we gain knowledge, and about 
love and anger and fear and all the other passions, and about 
reason and judgment and imagination. But we know very 
little about what the mind is and how it works, and how it is 
related to the body. Men are beginning to study these 
things, but it will take a long time to find them out, and when 
they are discovered the nineteenth century may be so far away 
as to be half forgotten. But I think men can never forget 
what a remarkable century it was and how much it added to 
the great sum of human knowledge. 




CHAPTER XXVI 

The Man Behind the Machine 

F any of my youthful readers had Hved several 

hundred years ago — which, of course, is quite 

out of the question for such young folks as you 

— they might have seen men busily at work, 

using hand tools to bring into shape this, that, 

and the other thing for use in house or street. They 

swarmed like ants in their little workshops, and many things 

of use or beauty came from their skillful hands. 

If you should go into one of the workshops of the nine- 
teenth century you would find quite a different state of affairs. 
In old time men often worked in a room of their own or their 
master's house. Now you see them gathered in great facto- 
ries, some of which will hold several thousand Ancient and 
work-people. And instead of hammering and Modern Work= 
gauging and twisting away with little hand ^^'"p^ 
tools, they stand before whirling machines, pushing in raw 
stuff at one end and taking out finished goods at the other. 
We cannot speak of man the worker in the old sense. The 
machine is now the worker and man is the overseer. 

The nineteenth century has been the century of the 
machine. The old system of industry is at an end, and a 
new system has taken its place. And glad enough we may be 
to have this new system ; for it has made goods of every kind 
so cheap and plentiful, and brought so many new things into 
use, that in the houses of the poor to-day there is often more 
comfort than there was in the houses of the rich in past times. 

203 



204 THE MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE 

Who would be willing now to live with bare wooden 
floors, and whitewashed walls, and rough benches and tables, 
and in houses without baths or drainage or coal fires or a dozen 
things which no one in these days likes to be without? Who 
would wish to do without matches, or gas and electric lights, 
or trolley cars, or daily newspapers, or telegraphs and tele- 
phones, or public libraries and parks, or — but I shall have to 
stop, for I might go on hour after hour telling what we have 
and our ancestors had not. 

All this is the work of the steam engine and the labor- 
saving machine, and of the man behind the machine, the big- 
brained man who invented these useful appliances. We 
The Inventors hardly know all we owe to Fulton and Morse 
and the and Howc and Edison and a hundred others. 

Conquerors ^.j^^ havc douc far morc for mankind and have 

a better right to be called great than all the Alexanders and 
Caesars and Napoleons and the whole brood of killers and 
conquerors. 

But that is not what I wish to talk about. This is not 
the chapter of the machine — which I have told you about 
already — but of the man behind the machine. You must 
understand that when I say man here, I mean man and 
woman, for every day more women are coming to stand with 
men behind the machine. We see them in the factory, in the 
office, at the sewing machine, doing a thousand things they 
never thought of doing in old times. No one says now that 
woman's work is at the stove, and with the scrubbing-brush, 
and before the wash-tub, for we see her at the loom and the 
typewriter, and working busily away in a hundred other places. 

I think you must know all this well enough, but there is 
no harm in having it brought to your minds. There is more 
to be said, however ; the story of labor in the nineteenth cen- 
tury is much longer than this, and there is much to be said 



THE MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE 205 

about it which you do not know or have not thought of. You 
are young now, playing and studying ; but before many years 
you will be in the great army of the workers, and it is well 
you should know something of the history of that mighty 
army. 

Let us glance again at the workmen of the last two cen- 
turies. In the eighteenth century they were divided up into 
thousands of little groups, many of them working alone at 
home, others in a little workshop, with one master to a dozen 
or two of men. In the nineteenth century they became gath- 
ered into great groups, of a hundred or a thousand, or in 
some cases five or six thousand busy workers. 

This was a great change, and it made a vast change in 
the conditions of the working people. They were not as free 
as they used to be ; they were becoming more like slaves. 
The masters once worked with the workmen, 

1 1 • • 11 1 1- 1 A 1- From Family 

and took an mterest m all they dia. A shop ^^ Factory 
was a sort of family. But a man might work 
for years in these great factories or mills and never see his 
employer, and the old family feeling has passed away. 

This was not right treatment and it brought much trouble. 
Many employers were so eager to make money that they hired 
little children — some of them just old enough to begin their 
school life — and kept them working in mines and dark rooms 
in mills for twelve and more hours in a day. And they paid 
them so little that they grew rich on this child labor. Many 
of the poor little things took sick and died. That was a kind 
of murder, but it was not direct murder, so for a long time it 
was allowed to go on. 

Fortunately, there were tender-hearted people in those 
days, and many of them began to pity these poor, pale, thin, 
wretched little ones, some of whom never saw the sun shine 
or a blade of grass grow, or knew what it was to have enough 



2o6 THE MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE 

to eat. As for learning, all they learned was how to do their 
work. When these good souls saw this they began to talk 
about the "slaughter of the innocents." They thought it 
murder, though they did not call it by that name. 

First, they tried to get the masters to make life easier for 
the sad little sufferers. But the masters said they could not 
do anything, for they had to get cheap work done or others 
in the- same business would take their customers from them. 
Then they tried to get laws passed to control child labor, and 
after much trouble they managed to do so. Laws were made 
which put an end to the long hours of labor. Then other 
laws fixed the age at which children should be 
/-u^f . k" set at work, and said that they must have some 

Chiid Labor ' ^ 

schooling. In this way law after law has been 
passed, making it easier and easier for children, and the old 
system is at an end. No selfish mill owner or mine owner 
can grind the lives out of the children of the poor to-day,- 
to put more money into his fat purse. But these men did as 
they pleased a century ago, and it was a hard time for the 
poor little things in those days. 

It was not only the children that suffered. The grown 
people did not find life very easy. Crowded into the great 
factories, they also worked long hours for small wages, and 
they hardly had time enough of their own to eat and sleep in. 
Every employer was trying to sell his goods at a lower price 
than others, so that he could gain more customers. And to 
do this he made his men work for as little wages and as many 
hours in the day as possible. 

Thus, you see, the grown-up workmen were not much 
better off than the children. And the tender-hearted people 
did not look after them. They were old enough to take care 
of themselves, and only the helpless little ones needed friends. 
What did the men do ? you ask. Did they look out for their 



THE MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE 207 

own interests ? Well, they tried to ; they did what they could. 
They began by joining together into societies which were 
called Trades Unions. Then, when they thought their wages 
were too low, and their masters refused to pay more, they 
would stop work and refuse to go back again until their wages 
were raised. This was called a strike for wages. If the mas- 
ters tried to get other men to take their places, the workmen 
would coax them away or drive them away, and often there 
were fights in which many were hurt and some were killed. 

The nineteenth century has been the century of strikes. 
You see that it has been the century of a good many new 
things. There were strikes in earlier times, but they were 
small affairs. In the nineteenth century the strikes were often 
very great. The Trades Unions grew in members until they 
became very powerful, and strikes took place in which ten 
thousand or a hundred thousand people were 
en9fap"ed. A strike came to be like a war, for ^ ^. ... 

o G) ' Trades Unions 

there were fights that were like battles, men 
being killed and property destroyed. In the great railroad 
strike of 1877 there was fighting in many of the large cities, 
and at Pittsburgh more than a hundred people were killed. 
The railroad buildings there were burned down, destroying 
126 locomotives and 2500 cars full of freight. The money 
loss was more than ^5,000,000. 

Do you ask. What has been gained by the strikes ? I 
suppose the workmen have got some good from them, but it- 
may be that they would have been just as well off without them. 
There are other ways of gaining good ends without going to 
war or fighting for your rights. Men do not work as many 
hours in a day as they did a century ago, and they get more 
money for a day's work. The strikes have helped to bring 
this about ; but, as I have said, it might have come about if 
there had been no strikes. 



2o8 THE MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE 

Many workmen are beginning to see that the violent way 
is not always the best way. Nowadays we hear a great deal 
about arbitration. That is, the employers and workmen come 
together and talk over their rights and wrongs and see if their 
disputes cannot be settled quietly. Many men think that this 
would be better for both sides, for a strike costs much money, 
to men and masters alike. Some day all such disputes may 
be settled by arbitration ; but there are likely to be many 
strikes yet, for it is hard to get men to meet each other 
half way. 

Are there no other ways except the strike and the arbi- 
tration ? Oh, yes ; several other ways. There is such a thing 
as joining hands and working together. Many employers 
give a part of their profits to their workpeople. This is called 
"profit sharing," and wherever it is tried it seems to give 
satisfaction. Another way is known as " co- 
strikes and operation." Workmen join tog^ether and start 

Arbitration ^ ^,. ii--ii r 

a business of their own and divide the pronts 
among themselves. There can be no dispute about wages, 
for every man gets his full share of the profits. At one time 
it was thought that co-operation would put an end to all labor 
troubles, but it does not seem to have worked very well. 
There are some co-operative stores in England that have been 
quite profitable, but there are none like them in the United 
States and there are hardly any co-operative factories. 

I shall have to speak here of another way in which many 
think the labor Question can be settled. It is called " Social- 
ism," and is a sort of co-operation on a large scale. Instead 
of a few people coming together to start a factory or a store, 
the Socialists wish the government of a country to take charge 
of all business and do away with all private employers. If the 
Socialists could carry out their plans there would be no mas- 
ters and no very rich men, but everybody would be employed 



THE MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE 209 

by the government and paid what his work was worth — or, as 
some think, all should be paid the same wages. 

There are a great many Socialists to-day, and the gov- 
ernment has control of a good many things it formerly had 
nothing to do with. In Europe the governments own many 
of the railroads and telegraph lines, and many of the cities 
own the trolley lines and the gas and water works. This is 
Socialism so far as it goes ; but it has not gone very far yet, 
and it will have a long and hard hill to climb before it gets 
all it asks for. 

Socialism has gone farther in Germany than in any other 
country. That country has got what is called "old age insur- 
ance." That is, when workmen have reached a certain age, 
the government takes charge of them and pays 
them so that they can rest from work for the , ^^^^ 

/ Insurance 

remainder of their lives. They and their em- 
ployers are taxed for the money to do this ; but the people 
there think it a very good system, and the old people are 
very glad of the chance to stop work when their joints are 
getting stiff 

You may see from what I have said that the nineteenth 
century has made many changes in the condition of the 
laborers. They had become much better oiT at the end than 
they were at the beginning of the century. Child labor had 
been* brought under wise laws, women had begun to work 
and make their own living in a hundred new ways, and men 
had gained shorter hours and higher wages; the strike was fast 
wearing itself out, like a coat that has been worn too long, and 
other ways of settling labor troubles were coming into play. 

But there was one thing that seemed likely to make fresh 
trouble. So many new and fast machines had been set at 
work that goods were being turned out at a wonderful rate. 
When all the factories were at work they made things of every 



2IO THE MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE 

kind more rapidly than they could be used. Here was a new 
trouble ; after business had gone on briskly for a few years the 
factories and stores were found to be overstocked with goods, 
and work had to fall off until the extra goods could be used. 
This is called "over-production." 

This is an evil, is it not ? When men make more things 
than they can use and have to stop work, then things are used 
more slowly still, because many of the working class have no 
wages and cannot buy them. I do not know just what is to 
be done about it. Nobody seems to know. 
^^ Z! Z .. Some say that the way to settle it is for men 

Over=Production J •' 

to work fewer hours still, so that a man can- 
not make so many goods in a day. But employers say they 
cannot pay the same wages for less work, so it looks as if it 
mig^ht be a long; ime before this bad state of affairs is settled. 
As you may see, the question before us is a very difficult 
one. Many hard problems have come up during the nine- 
teenth century, but it seems to me that the labor problem is 
the hardest of all. Many ways have been tried to solve it, 
and wise men are at it still, like a school-boy trying to work 
out a hard problem in arithmetic. How it will come out in 
the end no man living knows. All we can hope for is that 
the time will come when there will be work for everybody at 
living wages. But I fear that will not come to pass in tlie 
lifetime of the youngest of my readers, and perhaps not in 
that of their children or their children's children. 




CHAPTER XXVII 

Growth of Commerce and Industry 

HIS is a wonderfully busy world we live in. It 
is in some ways like a great factory, in which a 
thousand wheels are revolving, hundreds of 
machines rattling and clanking, workpeople 
darting to and fro, bringing in raw material, 
feeding the machines, and taking away the finished goods ; a 
place so full of life and bustling with business that we feel 
as if we were caught in the jaws of some great machine, and 
being drawn through its restless heart. 

Everywhere around us is just such a bustle and whirl. 
In the country men are plowing, planting and harvesting, fill- 
ing their barns, feeding and milking their cows, gathering 
their fruit. In the city the streets are filled with hurrying 
people, trotting horses, and gliding cars; new houses are rising 
on every side and workshops are full of busy 

1 . T- • 1 J r • J Human 

mechanics ; whirl and confusion, noise and ^^^. .. 
tumult are everywhere, and everything and 
everybody are in constant motion. On the streams and the 
seas boats and ships are darting along, on land strong engines 
are dragging long trains filled with men or goods. Every- 
where man is alive and active, everywhere except in the air, 
and he is trying his best to travel in the air as well as on 
land and water. 

We have had quite a chat together about some of these 
things. You have read about how men have been fighting 
and how they have been working ; about the discoveries of 

211 



212 GROWTH OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 

travelers and the inventions of mechanics; about the marvels 
of science and the troubles of industry, and about various 
things besides. I wish to talk here about another form of 
human activity, that known as commerce, the carriage of 
goods over the earth from the people who make them to the 
people who use them. 

Of course, you know that when a farmer digs up his 
potatoes and gathers in his wheat and corn, and when a 
manufacturer takes the goods from his loom or the iron arti- 
cles from his forge, and when ten thousand other workers 
produce ten thousand other things to eat or use, they mus^ 
have some easy way to get these things to the people who 
want them and who are willing to pay money for them. This 
moving of useful goods from place to place we call commerce. 
Millions of men all over the earth are engaged in it. Some, 
like the peddlers, are carrying things in packs 

How Goods are .u • i i /^^.u j • i_ 

~ _, . on their backs. Others are arivmp^ horses or 

Transported o 

mules or camels laden with goods. Thousands 

of carts and wagons, heavily loaded, are rolling along roads 
or streets ; thousands of laden boats are moving by oar or 
sail along the streams. Long trains of freight cars are hying 
over the iron rails ; huge steamships are darting at great speed 
through the ocean waves. All these are engaged in com- 
merce, the transportation of goods from field and factory to 
warehouse and store, where the customers come to buy and 
take them home. The store, you see, is a useful half-way 
stopping place in this active industry. 

Why, just think of it, you all take part in commerce 
yourselves. Whenever you are sent to the market or store 
to bring home something for use in the house, you are help- 
ing in the movement of goods from the producer to the con- 
sumer. Even when you go fishing and bring home a perch 
or a trout to fry for your supper, you are doing a little in this 




HOHBiaHHi 





BARON F. H. ALEXANDER von HUMBOLDT 



LOUIS AGASSIZ. 





CHARLES DA RWIN. THONLAS H. HUXLEV. 

ILLUSTRIOUS MEN OF SCIENCE, 19TH CENTURY 



GROWTH OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 213 

line. Commerce, you see, is the transportation of the produce 
of the earth or the workshop to the places where it is to be 
used. That will do for a definition, and now we will say 
something about the commerce of the nineteenth century. 

Commerce had a remarkable' growth during that century 
— greater, I think, than in all the centuries that went before. 
If you look back to 1801, the first year of the century, you will 
see this to be the case. Perhaps some of you may have read 
of a centre of commerce ; that is, a land where 
commerce is very active. There have been ^ornmerce 
many such centres. Several thousand years 
ago Phoenicia, in Asia, was the busiest centre. Then came 
Greece, then Venice and Genoa, then Holland, then England. 
There have been other centres, but in the year 1801 England 
was the great centre of the world's commerce. 

England is not very large, but it is very active. All over 
its surface are mines and mills, where goods are produced in 
great abundance. And its many fine seaports are crowded 
with vessels, which are constantly coming and going ; many 
of them setting out with English goods to the most distant 
parts of the earth ; many of them coming in laden deep with 
goods brought from lands thousands of miles away — food for 
English tables, cotton for English looms, and a multitude of 
other useful things. 

England was busy enough at the beginning of the cen- 
tury, but it was ten times as busy at its end. I could tell you 
exactly its exports (what it sent out) in 1800 and its imports 
(what it brought in), but I will give these only in round num- 
bers. In 1800 the exports of Great Britain were valued at 
about ^215,000,000, and its imports at $150,000,000, about 
$365,000,000 in all. This seems like a large amount, but it is 
small enough when compared with 1900, when the total of 
exports and imports was nearly $4,000,000,000, more than 

14 



214 G^O WTH OF COMMERCE AND IND USTRY 

ten times as much. This is certainly an enormous growth 
for a hundred years. 

Though this seems a great deal it is only a part of the 
growth of the world's commerce, for other countries which 
were of small account in 1800 had become very active in 
1900. Holland and Belgium have long been busy and are 
very busy still, their commerce amounting to 
..^^^KT^^f.**^" about $2,c;oo,ooo,ooo in a year. The trade of 

the Nations vf >^ > > j 

France has also grown, and is now about 
$2,000,000,000. There is another country in Europe which 
in 1800 had very little ocean trade, but which is now one of 
the great centres of commerce. This is Germany, whose 
annual commerce is now valued at $2,200,000,000. 

Now let us take a leap across the ocean to the great 
United States and see what has been going on in that noble 
nation of the western world. Wonderful is the only word we 
can use for the growth that has taken place. In 1800 the 
great republic was only a beginner. Its commerce resem- 
bled a young boy carrying home a pound of sugar from the 
store, while that of England was like a railroad train crammed 
full of goods. But the United States is loading its cars and 
is on the track after England. If it keeps on it will catch up 
to that country before many years. Its commerce at the end 
of the century was over $2,200,000,000, and it was growing 
as fast as some boys grow between twelve and sixteen. 

You must not think that this is the whole story. I have 
been talking only of trade with foreign countries. When we 
come to talk of home commerce, trade between the different 
parts of a country, the United States has no equal on the 
earth. You may see it for yourselves — the miles and leagues 
of heavily loaded freight trains, carrying vast quantities of 
goods to be used at home. It takes a great deal to feed and 
clothe and furnish and supply 75,000,000 people, and this the 



GROWTH OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 215 

United States does in great part for itself. It could get along 
very well if there was no other nation to draw goods from in 
the world. When you consider that the railroads of the whole 
world are about 460,000 miles long, and that about 190,000 
miles of these are in the United States, you can judge how 
great its internal commerce must be. Why, it has 20,000 
miles of railroad more than all Europe, with all its busy 
nations. 

I might go on talking for hours about the commerce of 
the nineteenth century, but I do not want to tire you out, so 
I shall say only a little more about it. 

It is, as you know, very largely carried in ships — foreign 
commerce, I mean, — and for it there has been built a mighty 
fleet of steamships. A hundred years ago only sailing vessels 
were used, and nearly all the commerce was between the 
nations of Europe ; but during the century it has spread and 
spread, until now there is hardly a sea-port on 
the earth to which these e^reat ships are not ^^ ®"''^® 

o r Has Spread 

sent. Through every part of the ocean they 
rush as fast as steam and whirling screws can drive them, 
bound for every port of Africa, for all the nations of America, 
for the great island of Australia, for the peninsula of India 
with its vast hordes of people, and to lands which a hundred 
years ago no white man had ever seen. 

Two great countries have been opened during the cen- 
tury to the commerce of the world. One of these is Japan. 
In 1800 a few Dutch ships were allowed to come once a year 
to one of its ports, and foreign goods were like curiosities to 
the people. Now its foreign trade every year comes to more 
than $200,000,000, more than half as great as the trade of 
England in 1800. The other is China, which has opened 
many of its ports to the ships of the world, and has a foreign 
trade about equal to that of Japan. 



2i6 GROWTH OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 

Of course, the nations are looking out all the time for 
new places to send their goods to, and of these the most prom- 
ising is China. That country, you know, is like an immense 
ant hill. It is swarming with people, crowded with human 
beings. Why, it contains more than a fourth part of all the 
people of the earth. Here is a mighty held for commerce if the 
Chinese once get a liking for foreign goods. All the trading 
nations of the earth are sending ships and goods to China, 
and some of them have taken hold of Chinese sea-ports, and 
claim them for their own. The United States has not done 
this. All it asks for is an ** open door" to China. That is, 
it wants the same rights of trade as other countries have ; but 
it has no fancy for swallowing up China to get its trade. 

Now let us leave the subject of commerce and take a 
look at the foundation upon which commerce rests. In build- 
ing a house we have to consider very carefully 
, r the foundation, if we do not want the bricks 

of Commerce ' 

and mortar to come tumbling down about our 
ears. Everything, in fact, has its foundation, and if this is 
not good and strong the time will come when the edifice, 
whatever it is, will come creeping or rushing down. 

The foundation of commerce is industry. Men must till 
the earth, dig in the mines, set the tools of the workshops in 
motion, before they can have anything to send abroad. That 
is the way it has long been in England and France and Hol- 
land and Germany. These have been great manufacturing 
countries, making goods in vast quantities, and sending them 
to other countries to get other goods in return, or to obtain 
money in payment. Much of what they get is food, for they 
do not raise enough at home to feed their workingmen, and 
must buy grain and meat and other food in foreign lands. 

Do you think that a country which cannot feed itself is 
on a safe foundation ? If its trade falls off, so that it cannot 



GROWTH OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 217 

sell enough goods in other lands to pay for its food, many of 
its people are likely to go hungry. Many writers think that 
some time this will be the fate of England. The farms of 
that island do not raise half enough food for its people, and 
it has to buy the rest. If other countries take away its trade 
and it cannot pay for its food its people are likely to suffer 
severely. 

If we come now to the United States, we shall find that 
its commerce is built on a sounder foundation. It raises not 
only all the food its people need, but a large part of the food 
that is eaten in Europe. England would starve if it were not 
for the wheat and meat of the United States, ^^e Position 
Its vast corn fields and mighty wheat farms of the 
and great cattle pastures are some of the ^"'*^®^ states 
foundation stones that make the United States strong and 
solid. And another of these huge foundation stones is its 
cotton fields, which feed the looms of the world. 

You may see from this that the United States could cut 
loose from Europe and go on very well without it ; but if 
Europe were to cut loose from the United States many of its 
tables would be empty of food and its looms would soon be 
idle for lack of cotton thread. So it looks as if the United 
States had the soundest foundation of all. 

It is on this solid foundation that its manufactures and 
its commerce have been built. The mines and the fields of 
the great republic yield the iron and coal and cotton and 
other things needed in its workshops and supply in abun- 
dance food for the tables of its people. So it has become not 
only a great farming and mining country, but a great manu- 
facturing country as well. Year after year more mills and 
factories and workshops have been built and filled with 
machinery, and now that country is able to supply itself with 
goods of every kind, and it has a large quantity every year to 



2i8 GROWTH OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 

send abroad. In 1890 the value of the goods made in Ameri- 
can workshops was over $9,000,000,000. In 1900 it was 
much more than this. 

I shall have to say something more about what the United 
States sends abroad. Its mines have long helped to supply 
the world with gold and silver, and are now beginning to 
supply it with coal of which it appears to have an abundant 
supply in its hills. No manufacturing country can go on 
long without coal. But Europe, at the end of 
en ing oa ^j^^ nineteenth century, found itself runnino^ 

to Europe -^ ' ^ 

short of this very useful substance, and the 
United States was called on to send many ship-loads of the 
"black diamond" abroad. Happily for that country, its mines 
of coal are deep and broad, and it can warm itself, and Europe 
as well, for a long time to come. 

Now, if you do not mind, we will go back to figures 
again. There is nothing like figures to make business mat- 
ters plain. If we compare the commerce of the nations of 
Europe with that of the United States it teaches us a very 
interesting lesson. If we look at the figures for Germany and 
France and Holland and Belgium, we find no great difference 
between exports and imports. These countries bring in more 
than they send out — but not a great deal more, except in the 
case of Germany, whose imports are about $350,000,000 more 
than their exports. 

In Great Britain the difTerence is much greater. In 1898 
that country sent out goods worth $1,400,000,000 and brought 
in goods worth nearly $2,300,000,000. Here was a difference 
of $900,000,000. And this difference had to be paid for. No 
nation gives its goods for nothing. If it cannot get other 
goods it will demand money. So it looks as if money, or 
something that stands for money, is going out of England 
at a fast rate. 



GROWTH OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 219 

If we go back to the United States we find there a state 
of affairs different from that of any of the countries named. 
There, in 1899, the exports came to $1,320,000,000; the 
imports to $816,000,000. That is to say, the United States 
sold about $500,000,000 worth of goods more than it bought. 
These were made up of cotton and wdieat and corn and oil 
and a great variety of manufactured goods. 
But what I want you to notice is the larp"e sum , ^^^ / ^" 

•' o Imports 

owing the United States, what is known as the 
balance of trade. That has to be paid for in some way ; so 
you may see that the American people are remarkably well 
off in their commercial relations. 

Not many years ago that country sent out very few 
manufactured goods. Now it sends out a large quantity; 
and this is every year growing greater, so that the Americans 
are looking all the time for new markets. That is why they 
want an "open door" in China, and want to trade with 
Japan and the Philippine Islands and every other country that 
will take their goods. They are in the field for the world's 
trade along with England and Germany and some other 
countries, and there is likely to be a pretty hard fight. The 
country that can give the best goods at the cheapest price is 
the one that is likely to win. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

The World of Our Own Time 




E have made a long journey together, and I hope 
every one of us, young and old alike, has seen 
something new on the road, and that we all end 
our journey wiser than when we began it. And 
I hope also that every one has enjoyed the ride, 
since it is much better to gain knowledge in a pleasant than 
in a disagreeable way. So I trust that each of my readers 
has come to this point with a smile instead of a frown. We 
are near the end of the road, and nothing remains but to take 
a look back and a look around us. 

I have already pointed out the strong contrast between 
the years 1800 and 1900. The people who lived in 1800 may 
have all passed away, but there are many now living who can 
look back to a part of the century when the means of living 
What Our were very different from what they are now. 

Grandfathers If you ask your grandfathers, or any of your 
^^^ oldest friends, about this, it is likely that some 

of them can tell you how they felt when they saw the first 
queer little locomotives running on the first rails, and how 
scared they were when these rattling things went by, spouting 
out smoke and fire from their iron throats. And others may 
be able to tell you how their fathers made their wills and 
bade good bye to all their friends when they were starting on 
a journey of a few hundred miles. Nowadays all we do is to 
hurry through our breakfast, run for the train, and shout back 
that we will be home to-night or to-morrow. 
220 





-VILLI AM McKINLEY PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES 



ALBERT EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES 






-- ~—-l 




U HUNG CHANG, "THE GRAND OLD MAN" OF CHINA WILLIAM 11. PRESENT EMPEROR OF GERMANY 

RULERS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF AM&RiCA, ENGLAND, CHINA AND GERMANY 





RT. HON. SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD G C. B 
Prime Minister of Canada, 1S78-1891 



RT. HON. J. S. P. THOMPSON, K. C. M. G 
Prime Minister of Canada, i8g2-;894. 





RT. HON. SIR WILFRID LAURIER 
Prime Minister of Canada, 1896. 

ILLUSTRIOUS SONS OF CANADA 



SIR CHARLES TUPPEK 



THE WORLD OF OUR OWN TIME 221 

You can find many who are able to tell you other things 
than this. They can describe what a trouble it was to make 
a fire without matches, and with nothing better than flint and 
steel ; and how dismal it was to go to bed in a freezing room, 
or to get up and go out in the snow for wood to make a fire 
with in the morning. They can tell you what magic they 
thought it when they were told that men were sending news 
over hundreds of miles of wire or under thousands of miles of 
the ocean. They can tell you of the first sewing machine, the 
first plowing and reaping machines, the first of a hundred 
other machines, and of the building of enormous factories to 
hold these machines and the people who kept them at work. 

Have you ever read the story of the man with the seven- 
league boots — that very long-legged old * fellow whose steps 
were seven leagues long ? All I can say to that is that the 
world seems to have been traveling in seven-league boots 
during the nineteenth century, and getting over ground at a 
rate that would have made the people of the 
past open their eyes very wide indeed. As for League Boots 
us, we have got used to it, and nothing seems 
very wonderful to-day. If I should tell you that boats would 
soon be going across the ocean under water, or air-ships sail- 
ing from America to China, I fancy none of you would say, 
" That is impossible." We have seen so many wonders that 
we are getting ready to believe that almost everything is 
possible. 

If one of our forefathers who went to sleep a hundred 
years ago was to waken up to-day and look around him in 
this dawn of the twentieth century, I imagine he would not 
take these changes quite so quietly as we do. Suppose there 
were some such Rip Van Winkle, who woke up after a hun- 
dred years' sleep and found himself in the midst of the whirl 
of this modern world ! Would he not feel much like Aladdin, 



222 THE WORLD OF OUR OWN TIME 

when he rubbed his lamp and saw wonderful palaces spring- 
ing up around him? He would certainly think that the world 
had gone through a marvelous transformation, and that some 
great magician had been at work. And what would surprise 
him most of all m.ight well be to see that nobody else seen:ied 
surprised, and that people walked among these marvels Avith- 
out taking the trouble to look at them. 

You have read in this book the story of many of these 
marvels, how they began and how they have grown. I do 
not intend to tell the story again ; but I think it will be well 
to look around us a little and notice some of the new things 
which our old Rip Van Winkle would gaze at 
«?^.., J"^.^ in amazement if he should waken from his 



Worth Seeing 



long slumber. 



I shall say nothing more about the railroad and the 
steamboat, the factory and the foundry, the mine and the 
tunnel, the telegraph and the telephone, the electric light and 
the trolley car, or the wonders of science and invention. You 
have read of all these, so we must look round us for some- 
thing else of interest. 

There are other things to be seen ; the marvels of science 
and invention do not complete the story. Let us take the fine 
arts, for instance. Fine paintings, wonderful statues, splendid 
buildings, are not new things — they were known several 
thousand yeiirs ago. But the world was never half so rich in 
these as it is to-day. Our large cities are now like great 
art galleries. There are magnificent paintings which every- 
body can see — miles of them in some cities. There are grand 
statues, and groups of statues, in marble and bronze, in-doors 
and out, and the poorest dwelling may now have its humble 
works of art. As for magnificent buildings, we may see them 
by the thousands ; a great city to-day is a great World's Fair 
of architecture. 



THE WORLD OF OUR OWN TIME 223 

People have to work almost as hard as they ever did, 
though not so many hours in the day. But the working 
classes are paid better and live better ; they have more com- 
fort in their houses and more freedom out of doors. They 
are no longer looked down on in disdain, but consider them- 
selves as good as the best. And they are so combined and 
organized that they have become one of the great forces of 
the world. The time has gone by when the 
working man had little more rights than the ing'^peopie Uve 
slave. It is not likely ever to come back again. 

What else do we see around us worth looking at ? I can 
point to one thing which you must all be acquainted with — 
the school-house. In talking of the wonders of the nine- 
teenth century it will not do to forget the school, for it is the 
mould in which the men and women of our time are formed. 

You may not be aware of it, but there has been a grand 
progress in education during the century. A hundred years 
ago the great mass of the population could not even read and 
write, while the higher branches of education were only to be 
had by the children of the rich. All this has passed away 
except in half civilized countries. The men and women 
among us who cannot read and write feel like hiding their 
heads in shame. And a good education is free to all. The 
school-house is no longer a hut ; it is more like a palace. 
And the poor, little school books our fathers studied we would 
laugh at to-day. A good education once consisted of the 
''three Rs " — which stands for " Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rith- 
metic." I fancy very few of you would be satisfied with the 
three "Rs" to-day. 

Education is filling the world with readers and thinkers ; 
and with writers, also. Nowadays nearly everbody likes to 
read, and more books are written and printed in a year than 
there were at one time in a century. No one now need go 



*262 THE WORLD OF OUR OWN TIME 

hungry for books ; there are enough for all. And libraries 
are growing up everywhere, well filled with books of all kinds, 
so that those who cannot afford to buy all the books they 
want, can get plenty of the best reading for the asking. The 
free school, the library, and the art gallery are three of the 
best institutions of our times. 

Other great institutions are the free hospitals, and orphan 
asylums, and homes for the blind and poor of every kind; for 
charity and benevolence have grown around us as rapidly as 
the other things I have named. The world has become very 
warm-hearted in this late day. People seem 
other Great ^^ \i2.N^ m'own kinder, and the cruelties and 

Institutions ^ 

sufferings which were common of old would 
not be permitted to-day. A prison used to be a place of 
torture and terror, but the kind heart of the world now 
makes itself felt even within the prison walls. 

It is a rich old world we live in, and it is growing 
richer with the passing of the years. I think I have said that 
or something like it before, but it is worth saying again. 

But what is that low, deep sound which falls in music on 
our ears — that long, strong, ringing stroke ? Is it not some 
great clock striking the midnight hour? Ah ! I know its mean- 
ing now ; it is the knell of the century, the stroke of its final 
hour. The nineteenth century is passing away — a hoary old 
man, deep-laden with years and honors. The twentieth century 
is coming in, a fresh young child, rich in the wealth of the past. 
With that midnight stroke our work closes, for with it the 
story of the nineteenth century, with which we are here con- 
cerned, comes to an end, and a new century, bright with the 
starlight of promise, takes its place. 



* Thirty-eight pages are here added to the lolio of the previous page to include the full page litho- 
graphs and half-tone illustrations not heretofore numbered. 



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OCT 11 1901 



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